No. Betula is an unofficial, independent project and not part of BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. Only the university's module descriptions, examination and study regulations are binding; that is why every page here links to its original.

Betula is a private, independent project; BTU has neither commissioned nor reviewed it. Who is behind it and how to get in touch is in the legal notice. Reports of errors are welcome.

Betula is the Latin name of the birch. It is a pioneer plant and one of the first to grow on the land that mining has left behind in Lusatia. And BeTUla has BTU in it.

Betula has two parts, named after the birch. Radix, the root, reads BTU's public pages and the PDFs of its examination regulations, checks the result and publishes it as a data set: modules, degree programmes with their standard study plans and areas, the dates of the course catalogue. Folia, the leaves, is the web app you are looking at. Its server delivers every page as finished HTML; with JavaScript your browser loads the data set once as a database and from then on answers search and filters itself. Which versions are running is shown at the end of every page.

From BTU's public sources: the module descriptions, the course catalogue and the module tree of each degree programme in the QIS portal, the list of interdisciplinary studies (FÜS), and the examination and study regulations BTU publishes as PDFs. Betula organises the information and makes it searchable; nothing in the content is changed and nothing is added. Where the source says nothing, the page says “not stated”.

Radix reads the sources continuously, in small steps and mostly at night: dates that are not settled yet every two hours, the course catalogue every night, module descriptions and degree programmes at least once a month. A new data set appears as soon as something has changed and it has passed every check; when that last happened is shown at the end of every page. Short-notice changes appear at BTU first, and if in doubt, the original applies.

No. Betula is free, without advertising and without tracking: no analytics, no cookies that recognise you, and nothing is loaded from other servers. It is a private, non-commercial project.

No. The account is left out on purpose, not the features: saved modules, a timetable with placeholders and chosen dates, saved plans, “My programme” and your settings all work without signing up, because they live in your browser instead of on a server. Nobody else can see them, and there is no password and no profile. Links take your saved modules and your timetable to another device, and a subscription takes the timetable into Apple Calendar, Google Calendar or Outlook.

Type a title or a module number into the search at the top (Ctrl+K or / jumps there), or start with a filter: degree programme, area, semester, offering, form of assessment, credit points, language, location, lecturers and more. All filters can be combined and almost all inverted, for example into “everything but a written exam”. Every selection is part of the address, so you can share it, bookmark it and go back with the browser's Back button. The section “Betula in detail” at the end of this page explains every filter.

It shows one semester as a week. Modules come in with “Plan”, from your saved modules, or as a whole semester of your standard study plan, whose elective rows become placeholders. Betula counts clashes on the days on which dates really meet, with A and B weeks, and for exercises with several groups only when no group is free any more. It warns about exams that overlap or leave too little time to get from one site to the other, and “Fits my timetable” finds modules that still fit. You can take the plan along as an .ics file, as a calendar subscription that fetches changes by itself, or as a link to share.

Yes. Every module has a bookmark, and the M key does the same. Your saved modules are counted with their credit points, split into winter and summer, can be copied as text and work as a filter in the catalogue (“Saved”). They are kept only in your browser: no account, and none of it reaches the server.

Yes, without an account. “Move to another device” copies a link that carries your saved modules behind the “#” of the address, and no browser sends that part to a server. You pass a timetable on with “Copy link to share”, to your other device or to other students, who can then add its modules to their own. And a calendar subscription shows your plan on every device your calendar runs on.

Yes. Every page comes from the server as complete HTML: the catalogue with all its filters, module pages, degree programmes and standard study plans work without JavaScript, as a classic website, for text browsers and search engines alike. With JavaScript an app written in Rust and running as WebAssembly takes over: it loads the catalogue into your browser once as an SQLite database and from then on answers every search and every filter itself, without loading times between pages. What lives in your browser, your saved modules and your timetable, needs JavaScript.

Yes. After the first visit with JavaScript the catalogue and the app are kept in your browser, and Betula starts even without a network. On a phone, tablet or computer it installs like an app, with its own icon on the home screen. The app downloads new data in the background and uses it from the next start.

Yes. The interface is in German and English, every page at its own address (/en). With JavaScript, Betula opens in your browser's language on the first visit and remembers your choice. Module titles and descriptions are shown as BTU writes them; many modules also have an English title, and you can filter for modules taught in English.

Through your degree programme. Which modules you take is set by its study and examination regulations; Betula prepares them and brings everything together in one place. Under “Choose a degree programme” you will find the standard study plan semester by semester (where the regulations contain one), the compulsory elective areas and all modules of the programme; “In the module catalogue” opens the catalogue narrowed down to it. A click on a module shows its contents, dates and exam. Set as “My programme”, it is preselected in the catalogue and the timetable.

A module is a self-contained unit of teaching, usually over one semester, for which you get credit points (CP). The module description names its contents and learning outcomes, forms of teaching and workload, prerequisites, the assessment, when it is offered and who is responsible. Together, the descriptions make up the module handbook of a degree programme.

Credit points, also called ECTS points, measure the workload of a module: lectures, exercises and self-study together. One point stands for about 25 to 30 hours. A semester according to the standard study plan usually comes to 30 CP.

Everyone in the degree programme takes the compulsory modules. For compulsory electives you choose from an area set by the regulations until you have the required credit points. Betula shows the areas of every degree programme under “Electives & areas”, and in the catalogue the “Area” filter narrows the list down to one of them.

Its description says when it is offered: in the winter semester, in the summer semester or every semester, some modules only in even or odd years. You can filter by all of it in the catalogue. Whether a module really takes place in the current semester shows in its dates: they are shown with the module as a weekly schedule, and the “Confirmed” filter hides every module without published dates.

Not on Betula. Registration goes through BTU's systems; deadlines and rules are stated there and in your examination regulations. Betula helps you plan and links every module to its original.