Maintaining Websites

The University of Greifswald’s organisational units, which include the administration, representatives, departments, the Rectorate, the Senate, faculties, institutes, professorships, and research projects, are responsible for the content of their respective web pages in the TYPO3 content management system (CMS) and on alternative web servers. 

This means: they organise the regular maintenance of the webpages themselves and also ensure they have been set up correctly. The only exception to this is University Medicine, which has its own independent website, both technically and from an editorial perspective.

Support and advice are available from 

Editorial enquiries:University Communications

Translation work: the Central Translation Office, which also advises on website design for pages in English and is happy to check the final version.

Technical and administrative enquiries: the University Computer Centre (in consultation with University Communications). The URZ also offers TYPO3 training sessions on request and regularly informs all website editors of this service. 

Advertising/sponsorship

State-run institutions must, as a matter of principle, act in a manner that is neutral with regard to competition. Care must be taken to ensure that advertising does not give individual providers a competitive advantage at the expense of their competitors. This also applies to municipal companies and providers of social services (e.g. Diakonie). For this reason, it is not permitted to name a specific provider when referring to a service on the website. This also excludes linking to information resources however useful they may be. Such information pages are usually created on business websites to draw attention to the business through free links.

However, the situation is different, for example, in the case of a project or event whose content being organised by the university, where a business makes a financial contribution and, in return, wishes to advertise; in such cases, the following applies:

there must be a contract covering the benefit received in return.

The process is subject to the provisions of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s Anti-Corruption Guidelines, which, amongst other things, require the approval of the Ministry and, in turn, also mandate the guarantee of equal opportunities when selecting sponsorship or advertising partners.

Research project collaborations

Consequently, specific reference to individual businesses is only possible in specific contexts. For example, in the context of specific collaborative projects in which companies receive no benefit in return.
In collaborative research projects, there is usually a joint project to which all parties make a contribution. This may involve promoting application-oriented research, even if the businesses ultimately have their own commercial interests at stake. One example would be projects in the field of paludiculture. Wetland restoration is important for climate protection. However, wetland restoration will only succeed if new value chains can be established so that farmers are actually willing to switch to new farming practices. Businesses that are to exploit the biomass also need financial incentives in the initiation phase, as they have to invest in new processes, go through approval and certification procedures for new products, and so on. The fact that the businesses are pursuing commercial interests is already taken into account within the framework of the funding guidelines and the approval process. The guidelines must comply with the EU’s legal framework and undergo approval procedures in which aspects of state aid law are reviewed – which then generally results in businesses receiving lower funding rates and higher amounts to contribute themselves than their university partners. And if all partners succeed in receiving funding, there is an obligation to carry out public relations work simply as a result of receiving the funding. This includes naming and linking to the parties involved. This does not involve any money flowing from the business to the university – as the business does not pay for articles, links, etc., meaning no money is exchanged in return for promotional services.

Incorrect, out-of-date or incomplete information, as well as broken links, should be corrected by editors as soon as possible. Each organisational unit must also ensure that urgent changes can be made even when the responsible editors are absent (for example, whilst on holiday or off sick).

If the error does not fall within your own area of responsibility, please report it to University Communications via the contact form. Describe the error as precisely as possible and include the link and the page ID (can be found at the bottom of the page). University Communications will then arrange for the correction to be made.

If you are updating German webpages, you must always remember to check whether any changes are required for the English content and make any necessary adjustments. 

• German is the official language of our university. English translations must never be added to the German page tree.
  English content must only be placed within the English page tree.
• English webpages may always link to German content. However, to ensure that it is immediately clear to users that the linked webpage is in German, the link is followed by a [de]: e.g. “Central user account [de]”.
• The English navigation menu must not contain any German terms. If a webpage needs to appear in the English navigation menu, but only exists in German, it can still be listed with an English title – also with the extra information[de] at the end of the page title.
• If only a little amount of information is available for English webpages, or it does not really make sense to translate the pages, it is advisable to consolidate the information on a single webpage and to link from there.

The landing pages of institutes/departments must always be provided in German. They must include the following information:

• Contact persons, members of staff and their contact details
• Information about degree courses
• Information about important research topics and key fields of research

If information is being provided on international degree courses, introductory information provided in German can link to detailed information on the English website. Links to these English webpages should be marked with [en] to make it clear that the content being linked to is in English.

Where content is aimed exclusively at English-speaking website visitors, a German version is not required. This can be realised through a short informative placeholder (example).

On the faculty websites down to and including the level of professorships, as well as comparable levels (e.g. research groups and research areas), basic information must always be provided in German for those without English language skills. 

If detailed information is only available in English, it is user-friendlier to point this out specifically or to use a placeholder as mentioned above. 

Yes, the university's English website is generally maintained in British English. To ensure a consistent online presence, we therefore ask you to use British English on your faculty and institute/department pages as well. Guidance is available on the Translation Coordinator’s webpages, which include a glossary, style guide and standard text blocks. 

The Translation Coordinator has editorial access to all of the university webpages. 

• For operational purposes, the Translation Coordinator may correct simple standard translations, e.g. office hours, telephone numbers and designations without obtaining prior permission.
• Suggestions for changes, additional information and corrections shall only be made with a view to improving the quality and consistency of the University of Greifswald’s internet presence and shall only be implemented following consultation with the person responsible for the respective webpage.
• The Translation Coordinator makes sure that terms are used consistently in the main and dropdown menus, and in the footer. If the faculties and facilities desire any changes or would like further information to be added to their English pages, they should contact the Translation Coordinator.