With the funding approval for the "Find YOUR Way" project, the HSZG is embarking on the path to further innovations in the field of teaching.
With the teaching project "Find your way - with individual learning paths", the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences (HSZG) is focusing on an innovative concept for the individual design of learning processes. The aim is to involve students more closely in the development of their personal learning paths and to provide them with targeted support in acquiring key future skills such as digital literacy, collaborative problem-solving and reflective learning. To this end, a digital learning process design is being developed that responds flexibly to different learning needs and enables new forms of student participation.
The innovative approach convinced the reviewers of the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education in the Freiraum 2026 funding program. The positive funding decision confirms the HSZG's strategic path of continuously developing the quality of teaching and providing students with the best possible support in their learning process. Under the direction of Prof. Dr. Martin Sturm, the project started on April 1, 2026 and will run until March 31, 2028 in cooperation with the Faculties of Social Sciences, Managerial and Cultural Studies and Natural and Environmental Sciences. Over the next two years, the aim is to provide new impetus for personalized learning opportunities that prepare students specifically for the demands of a changing world of work.
With "Find your way", we are developing a scalable learning process design that enables individual learning paths, makes skills development measurable and sustainably transforms the university towards a student-centered learning culture.
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A central feature of the project is the "students as partners" approach. Students are not just learners, but are actively involved as co-designers in the development of the teaching formats. In interactive "creative pitches" and workshops, needs are identified and innovative solutions for the challenges of digital transformation are developed together with teaching staff and external practice partners.
At the heart of the project is the establishment of a "Futureskill Learning Space". This is a technologically supported learning ecosystem that:
The piloting will take place in various STEM and GSW modules. The project will also be accompanied by special "competence boosts" for teaching staff to ensure the high quality of the new learning environments in the long term.
For me, "Find your way" is a real experimental space: we combine new didactic approaches with digital possibilities and create formats that can also be transferred to other degree programs and contexts.
”The concepts developed in the project will not remain hidden. A key objective is to provide various elements to promote transfer and sustainability in order to provide further impetus with the project results. This should provide an impetus for a sustainable transformation of the entire teaching-learning culture at the HSZG and beyond.
Funding information:
This measure was co-financed by the Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre, Treuhandstiftung in Trägerschaft der Toepfer Stiftung GmbH.
