Kim-Astrid Magister, spokeswoman for the Dresden University of Technology, said the school's entire student body and all of its staff -- 48,000 people -- were mistakenly sent emails Sunday telling them they had been unenrolled from the university, The Local.de reported Wednesday.
"Your logins will be locked in 12 days. This is happening because you have been unenrolled as a student, your contract is up or your guest logins are no
longer valid. Please ensure you have saved any information that may be contained within these logins," the email read.
Many students said they panicked on receiving the communication, but were comforted when fellow students told them they had also received it.
Magister said the email was the result of human error while working on a software program designed to organize staff and student data. She apologized for any confusion or distress caused by the mistake.
The spokeswoman said the software error had been corrected.