Some of you have already inquired and the time to register is March. If you are employed in Germany you can officially attend the 10th re:publica as an educational event for your professional advanced training. That's right, #rpTEN is now an official training event! Employees and trainees can put in a request to their employers for educational leave. We have applied to numerous federal states to be officially recognised as an educational event and have received confirmation from three so far.

If you'd like to check out some general information on the ins-and-outs of educational leave, check out this information page.

For more information on how to apply for educational leave, we've but together a small FAQ:

Who can apply for educational leave?

Prerequisite for official educational leave is you being an employee or in employment training in Germany.

What do I have to keep in mind?

It's important to remember that decisions on your application for educational leave are based on your place of work, not your place of residence!

What if I'm self-employed?

Self-employed, freelancers and employees should check out training credits / premiums.

What documents do I need?

Several federal states have already confirmed our application for official recognition of re:publica as an educational event. Copies of this confirmation need to be presented to your employer. You can download the following:

• Confirmation Brandenburg
• Confirmation Rhineland-Palatinate
• Exemption Saarland (this notice of exemption becomes valid in combination with a confirmation from any other federal state)
• Confirmation Berlin
• Confirmation Hamburg
• Confirmation Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Unfortunately, some federal states do not offer educational leave or we were not able to fulfil their prerequisites. These states include: Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Bremen, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, North Rhein-Westphalia, Hesse, Thuringia and Lower Saxony.

What happens now?

With the educational event confirmation your can contact your employer, as well as the relevant education authority in your state, and apply for educational leave. You'll need an application form and reference number from your employment or education authority. Check out the relevant link provided by the city of Berlin. More information on educational leave for the state of Brandenburg can be found here. Further information from responsible authority in Rhineland-Palatinate can be found here.

What are the next steps?

As a conference participant, your application for exemption (from work) needs to be submitted to your employer at least six to four weeks in advance, depending on your state. So by mid- to end of March, seeing as re:publica is taking place 2 – 4 May 2016! See our mock application here.

As event organisers, re:publica will provide you with a confirmation of registration, which sums up the name, duration and confirmation of the event.

Of course you will also need an attendance certificate to present to your employer, following the conference. No problem: our info-counter at STATION Berlin can provide you with a certificate, including official stamp and signature.

If you have any more questions feel free to contact us at info at re-publica.de.

Still looking for convincing arguments to attend #rpTEN for further education?

re:publica 20156 is a three-day conference, featuring over 350 hours of event programme provided by international experts, scientists and politicians from over 45 countries. With over 7000 attendees, re:publica is Europe's most important and leading conference on topics affecting the digital society. More on the conference over here. Check out our handy visual summary of all re:publica facts here: https://re-publica.de/en/facts-and-figures

Take advantage of #rpTEN's educational programme. It offers:

• Cross-societal relevant topics in the fields of business & innovation, science & technology, politics & society, research & education, culture and media
• Dissemination of expert knowledge and focus on the most current trends in the digital field
• Current developments in the areas of data and system security
• Professional usage of digital media in the field of education
• Business and networking event at an international level
• Synergy between representatives of internet & politics, digital marketing, web technologies, digital society and culture

Best of luck!

Photo credit: re:publica/Gregor Fischer (CC BY-SA 2.0)