Shaping the digital future of higher education

From April 12 to 16, 2021, the Peer-to-Peer Strategy Consultation organized by the Higher Education Forum on Digitalization will take place at our university. The consultation is specifically aimed at university leadership as key players in a process supported and shaped by the entire university and is supported by experienced professionals from other universities, foundations, or the business sector (known as “peers”).

As part of the ongoing planning for the counseling week, the Rector’s Office met with the organizers and the peer counselors on February 17, 2021. They discussed the expectations and requirements for the strategic counseling sessions. The peer experts for the counseling sessions are:

• Prof. Dr. Susanne Staude, President of Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences
• Bernadette Gruber, student at FernUniversität in Hagen
• Adjunct Prof. Dr. Dominic Orr, Senior Advisor at atingi at GIZ
• Manuel Dolderer, President of CODE University

What happens during the consultation week?

Following the consultation week, the experts will develop recommendations for the further advancement of digitalization, with a specific focus on academic studies and teaching. In doing so, they will make an important contribution to the future development of Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. A particularly important aspect of this is how in-person instruction, online instruction, and data protection can continue to be balanced in the future. Another component of the consultation will be to further strengthen the economic and social relevance of the degree programs and, in doing so, to continue developing needs-based offerings for prospective students that integrate technical, digital, and cultural innovation.

The expertise shared—particularly in the area of continuing education, such as micro-degrees (the smallest units of coursework) and badges (forms of recognition for informal, self-directed learning) as supplementary digital qualifications—is especially valuable in this context. For the university, the challenge is to proactively address the ambivalence surrounding micro-degrees and badges and to incorporate them into its strategic process. To this end, the “Digital Higher Education” working group (comprising the Vice President for Education and International Affairs, members of the Office of Education, the Center for Knowledge Transfer and Education, the Center for E-Learning, and interested students) prepared a self-reflection document for the university and shared it with peers. Based on this, the upcoming consultation is being co-organized and conducted.

The Rector’s Office is very pleased about this opportunity for consultation and thanks everyone involved.

Background: Higher Education Forum on Digitalization

Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences is one of six universities receiving guidance from the Higher Education Forum on Digitalization in 2020–2021 regarding the strategic direction of its digitalization initiatives in academic programs and teaching. The selected universities will receive one year of peer-to-peer strategic consulting from experts at the Higher Education Forum on Digitalization.

The Higher Education Forum on Digitalization (HFD) facilitates discourse on higher education in the digital age. As a key driving force, it informs, advises, and connects stakeholders from universities, politics, business, and society. The HFD was founded in 2014. It is a joint initiative of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft, the CHE Center for Higher Education Development, and the German Rectors' Conference (HRK). It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.