Intern Maren Molch reports on her work in university administration.
As part of my Bachelor's degree in General Administration at the Meißen University of Applied Sciences and Training Center, I started looking for a state internship for my practical work experience during the 3rd semester about a year ago. In the process, I became aware of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. I am now at the end of my three-month internship at the HSZG, which started at the beginning of November, and can look back on a time of many different impressions and challenging tasks.
I gained an insight into four key areas - onboarding as part of the Female Professors Program III (PPIII), creating form letters, general activities in the Human Resources and Legal Department (DPR) and introducing a document management system. The first point of contact with the PPIII took place in the first week during a working meeting of the project team.
The PPIII is a program funded by the federal and state governments with the aim of supporting women in their academic careers and increasing their share of professorships at German universities and colleges, thus promoting equal opportunities and equality between women and men. I was involved in this program during my internship in the area of onboarding.
Another key component of this area was the topic of the applicant management system, which the university is currently planning to introduce in the future in order to improve the application process at the HSZG. In this regard, I prepared a comprehensive overview of possible software and examined individual features. Shortly before the end of my internship, I had the opportunity to hold a workshop to inform the employees of the DPR about the current status and future plans for the introduction of an applicant management system.
I was also familiarized with the tasks that the employees of the DPR deal with in their day-to-day work. I was also able to support the introduction of a document management system (DMS) from DocuWare at the HSZG, which has enabled the electronic archiving of all incoming invoices as a pilot project since the beginning of 2023. As part of this, I took part in the first test phase of the software with the entire project team and was also able to take part in a training course on the application. I also found the collegial environment at the HSCG, especially in the DPR, very pleasant and felt well integrated into the daily work routine, not only in terms of my tasks, but also on an interpersonal level.
To sum up, I consider my assignment at the HSZG to have been extremely successful and instructive, and I regard it as a valuable experience for my studies and later working life.
