Meilensteine
- New research building
- Guidance system

For better orientation on campus!

The University of Erfurt is getting a new guidance and orientation system for its campus and external locations. The system is designed to integrate all buildings for the first time, to ensure greater uniformity and thus better comprehensibility and orientation, and at the same time to be barrier-free, multilingual, visually modern and expandable to include digital applications.

Together with the agency Form & Fokus from Leipzig, a working group (representatives from various areas of the university) headed by Department 4: Facility Management developed the new system and design. A corresponding manual was created for this purpose, which is now being used to implement the system step by step.

You can find all the important information about the new guidance and orientation system here. This page will be continuously updated.

The establishment of such a new guidance and orientation system is much more complex than it may appear at first glance." (Bernd Sauerbrey)

Read our interview with Bernd Sauerbrey, Project Manager and Head of Department 4: Facility Management here! (status: March 2022)

News

25. November 2024

Roll-out of the new guidance and orientation system is progressing

With the opening of the "Weltbeziehungen" research building in 2023, we began to roll out our new guidance and orientation system – and with it the new linguistically neutral, systematic and barrier-free signage – on campus and thus also introduced…

12. May 2023

A name for the square between cafeteria and teaching building 1

The square between the cafeteria and teaching building 1 on the campus of the University of Erfurt now has a name. As the city of Erfurt, where the naming had to be applied for, has now announced, the square will be called "Hieranaplatz".

21. June 2022

Two name proposals for the square between the cafeteria and teaching building 1

The square between the cafeteria and teaching building 1 on campus of the University of Erfurt is to be given a name. All university members were therefore called upon to participate in the naming process and submit suggestions by 31 May. The jury…

2. May 2022

Call for a name

The square between the cafeteria and teaching building 1 on the campus of the University of Erfurt is to be given a name. All university members are therefore called upon to participate in the naming process.

Simulation guidance system (columns) — designs for the exterior signage

simulation guidance system (interior signage) — designs for the interior signage

campus plan with numbering the buildings — numbering of the buildings counterclockwise

list of new building designations (status 11/2024; in German only)

FAQ

Why is a new guidance system needed?

Our current signage system is clearly getting on in years and has many weak points. For example, the signage is insufficient in some places and is neither uniform nor logical in its structure. In addition, the system is not barrier-free, i.e. it has no tactile elements, and it is not bilingual. This means that it is not only difficult for new students and employees to find their way around the campus, but suppliers also often have difficulty finding the right contact due to the large number of buildings that all operate under the address Nordhäuser Str. 63. With the new guidance system, we want to eliminate all these deficits and position ourselves well for the future.

What is the timetable and when will the new designations apply?

The new building codes and visitor addresses will apply from 2024. In the winter semester of 2024/25, columns with the new building designation (C-coding) and further information about the facilities located in the building will be set up in front of the buildings on the campus. Room signs with the new room coding and barrier-free tactile guidance elements will then be installed successively in the buildings themselves. At the same time, the residential homes of the Thuringian Student Services Organisation (Studierendenwerk) will receive stickers with the new building codes on the existing building signs.

For more information, please refer to the news on this website. And please also note the internal circulars from the Head of Administration (i.e. 09/2023).

Which areas are affected by the new guidance system and what changes can be expected?

The changes affect many areas or aspects:

exterior signage (from the main entrance to the campus, through major crossroads, to the front door of the building)
interior signage (from the entrance to the door sign)
websites: contact/directions // digital business cards // texts // calendar of events
web applications such as E.L.V.I.S. // room allocation, course catalogue
asset accounting // inventory (furniture and IT)
key management
print: business cards, letterheads, flyers, campus maps
stamps and forms
lans for fire separtment and police // emergency management

All this needs to be considered in advance to make the new system a success.

Who is leading the project?

The project manager is Department 4: Facility Management (Bernd Sauerbrey). During the development phase, a working group consisting of representatives from various areas of the University of Erfurt (Head of Administration, University Computer and Media Center, faculties, research institutions, students, representative body for severely disabled persons, Equal Opportunity Officer, Staff Council, Student Services organisation) provides support.

Our project partner is the Form & Fokus agency from Leipzig, which already has extensive experience in the field of guidance and orientation systems and has implemented numerous projects, including at universities.

Who will take care of the changes on my door sign and on my website?

The University Communications Office is responsible for updates and changes to the central websites (e.g. the contact/how to find us page), while the editors responsible for the decentralised websites will update them if necessary.

Users are responsible for updating their personal e-mail signatures and data records in the electronic business cards. The latter is easily done in TYPO3. You do not need to have editor rights to do this; you can simply log in to TYPO3 with your login and use the 'Meine Daten bearbeiten' (edit my data) button to adjust your data record accordingly.

University Communications will create templates for the door signs, which should be printed out and inserted. The initial insertion will be done by the property management team (D4). The templates for the individual areas will be made available on the intranet for any subsequent updates.

The letter templates are updated centrally by University Communications and made available on the intranet. University Communications also takes care of updating the various (thematic) campus maps, exchanges them on the website and made them available to members of the university on request.

Who finances the project?

For the development of the new signage and orientation system as well as the first implementation step, the state has earmarked a total of 200,000 euros from the Higher Education Pact funds until the end of 2022 as part of its "Inclusive Universities" programme.

In addition, the costs for signage for extensive modernisation and maintenance work are part of the construction budget planned for this purpose (e.g. new research building, sports hall, Audimax building).