A drumbeat for the digital transformation in the higher education sector

Numerous members of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences from the administrative and education sectors attended the kickoff event organized by the Saxon Ministry of Science, Culture, and Tourism (SMWK) and the Saxon State Rectors’ Conference (LRK) of Saxony on the topic of “Digital Transformation in Higher Education” on February 8, 2022, at the Saxon State Library – Dresden State and University Library (SLUB).

Similar to the participatory approach taken by the university administration as part of the HSZG’s internal “University for Future” process, the strategy-building process led by the SMWK and the LRK is also intended to be collaborative and dialogue-oriented. The purpose of the event was to foster a shared understanding of the various forms that digitization measures can take and to gain insight into the SMWK’s and LRK’s ongoing process toward digitization in higher education. The following key topics were discussed in the workshops:

• IT infrastructure, IT services
• Information security
• Digitization of University Administration
• Digitization in higher education teaching
• Key digital competencies for the professionals of the future
• Digitization of Research Processes
• Open Science
• Digitization of Knowledge Transfer
• Staff Development for Successful Digitalization at Universities

Our speaker on university pedagogy, Daniel Winkler, also moderated a roundtable discussion on this topic.

The Vice President for Education and International Affairs, along with representatives from the various organizational units of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, took the opportunity to share their knowledge based on the findings of the HSZG’s “University for the Future” process during the individual workshop sessions.

Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences has already begun developing its own strategy for the digital transformation of the HSZG through the Peer-to-Peer Strategy Consulting program offered by the Hochschulforum Digitalisierung. Just recently, on September 20, 2022, a University for Future (UF4) workshop took place to develop a “digital identity” for our HSZG. The goal was to exchange ideas with representatives from the individual faculties, the HSZG support structures (Center for E-Learning, Office of Education and International Affairs, University Data Centre, etc.) and students to discuss the goals of digitizing studies and teaching at the HSZG as well as the challenges involved. The HSZG is now actively participating in the development of the Saxony-wide overarching strategy and would like to contribute the knowledge it has gained, for example, from peer-to-peer strategy consulting. To this end, the head of the Department for Digital Transformation in Higher Education and Academic Libraries, Dr. Marzena Schöne and Ms. Jacqueline Beyer, are expected at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences on March 10, 2023, to jointly discuss ideas and visions for digitization in higher education in general and specifically at HSZG.

The SMWK’s kickoff event, held in cooperation with the LRK, demonstrated that the digital transformation in higher education should be strongly advanced with political support. The overarching strategy focuses on the following areas of action:

​​​​​​Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences is ready to play its part in further workshops planned by the SMWK and the LRK. The participatory process of developing a strategy for digitalization at HSZG and across Saxony’s higher education landscape is thus making great strides.

The HSZG would like to take this opportunity to thank the SMWK and the LRK for organizing this highly informative event and for the opportunity to participate in the development of the overarching strategy.