The motto of the 2026 Teaching Day was: University as a space for shaping a sustainable future.
How can university teaching empower and strengthen students to actively and responsibly help shape the future? This was the question addressed by the Day of Teaching 2026 on May 6, 2026 in the auditorium on the Görlitz campus.
Under the motto "Learning for tomorrow: university as a space for shaping a sustainable future", university members and guests came together to discuss sustainable university teaching, education for sustainable development, transformation and skills for tomorrow.
The Day of Teaching is important because it creates space to think together about the future of education. Particularly in the context of sustainability, it becomes clear that universities are far more than just places for imparting knowledge - they are spaces for responsible action and social cohesion. For me, sustainability does not just mean climate protection or technological innovation, but above all an attitude. Universities have the task of strengthening values such as respect, responsibility and a sense of community in addition to professional excellence. After all, the future not only needs qualified specialists, but also people with an attitude who help shape progress responsibly.
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Keynote 1:
Universities as drivers of sustainable transformation? - Developing skills for solving pressing socially relevant issues
Speaker: Dr. Annett Kaldich, Faculty of Physics and Earth System Sciences at Leipzig University
Dr Annett Kaldich, winner of the Ars legendi award for excellent university teaching, kicked off the event with the question of what role universities can play in social transformation processes and what skills students need in order to responsibly shape pressing issues such as climate change, digitalization, demographic change and the use of AI. She categorized sustainable transformation as an interplay between the practical, political and personal spheres and made it clear that teaching becomes effective when it combines knowledge, values and the ability to act. As an example, she showed how transdisciplinary learning settings, transfer and problem-solving orientation as well as future skills can be anchored in studies and teaching.
Keynote 2:
The future is not in any module catalog - or is it?
Speakers: Julia Jurczyk (Bachelor of Culture and Management) and Annika Thomas (Master of Management of Social Change), HSZG Student Council.
From a student perspective, Annika Thomas and Julia Jurczyk asked how "future-proof teaching" can become concrete when social developments are often faster than curricular adjustments. Their key point: the future is not "ready-made" in the module catalog - it becomes visible when modules and examinations are consistently geared towards skills, responsibility and the ability to act . This requires, among other things, clear, competence-oriented formulations, suitable forms of learning and examinations and more room for co-design. They also made it clear that student participation, especially in committees, should also be understood as a learning space in which communication, cooperation and assessment skills are developed in practice.
This year's Teaching Day showed that student participation is more important than ever. We would like the university to actively integrate future-oriented topics such as sustainability and skills development into all degree programs and strengthen student committees in the long term. In this way, we can offer students the creative space for innovative solutions and ideas.
”Keynote 3:
Who turns off the tap? Competence-oriented university teaching between engineering, system analysis and change agency
Speaker: Dipl.- Ing. Markus Will, Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences
Using a vivid image - the "right turn on the tap" - Markus Will drew a line from classic engineering logic to systemic thinking: not just solving and optimizing problems, but understanding interrelationships, recognizing interactions and dealing with uncertainty. Using typical examples of system dynamics (including "Balancing Process with Delay"), he illustrated how easily good interventions can produce unexpected effects. His conclusion: If universities want to be creative spaces, knowledge transfer alone is not sufficient - system competence, anticipation, action competence and "change agency" are required as central building blocks of sustainable teaching.
Keynote 4:
Shaping STEM teaching for the future: From problem subject to key moment
Speaker: Prof. Dr. rer. medic. Sonja Schellhammer, Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences
Under the title "Shaping STEM teaching for the future: From problem subject to key moment" , Prof. Dr. Sonja Schellhammer, winner of the Saxon Teaching Award 2025, presented perspectives on how learning processes, especially in basic and "problem subjects", can be designed in such a way that they not only strengthen students professionally, but also promote motivation, understanding and future skills.
This approach can be seen in the "Physics with Project Workshop" module ( Green Engineering degree course), for example, where she combines sustainability, inclusion, digital didactics and project learning and links subject-specific fundamentals with socially relevant issues. In her contribution, she also made clear what she understands by "individualization as an attitude": students are given a variety of learning approaches and can try out which one suits them best. This also includes clear, self-explanatory, visually appealing materials that are provided in advance, can be used as scripts, reduce barriers (e.g. through screen reader-friendly alternative texts) and transparently document examination requirements. This creates scope for alternative explanations, repetitions and motivating examples - from everyday life and hobby references to socially relevant contexts.
We can create new approaches and build bridges for students through application and everyday references, clear and modern teaching materials, low-threshold interaction opportunities and an appreciative, encouraging attitude.
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In the panel discussion "Between lecture hall and future - How do we make students fit, resilient and future-proof?", all keynote speakers discussed central areas of tension in future-oriented teaching together with Prof. Dr. Maja Dshemuchadse and Sebastian Benad.
It became particularly clear: Practice- and project-oriented teaching formats as well as more participatory teaching settings are considered important levers, but can encounter structural and organizational limits (e.g. framework conditions, resources, examination logics) in everyday life. At the same time, it was openly mentioned that not all students are equally open to such forms of learning. The question of the feasibility of the (in some cases very broad) future competence requirements for graduates was also critically reflected upon. It also became clear that sustainable teaching does not only mean "more practice", but also requires reliable framework conditions - and at the same time learning cultures that realistically enable participation and project work for both teachers and students.
At the end of the day, Prof. Dr. Steffi Heidig was honored in the "AKTive Lehre" program for her commitment to university didactics. In her tribute, Professor Małgorzata Maćkowiak, Vice President Education and Sustainability, emphasized that a central concern of the Day of Teaching is to make visible and recognize commitment to good university teaching, in particular the continuous development of one's own teaching, reflection in exchange and transfer to the university public.
The Teaching Day also provided space for international exchange: Bolormaa Baljir and Batsuren Bishbat, two German teachers from the German-Mongolian University of Resources and Technology (DMHT) in Ulaanbaatar, took part. Their visit was part of a cooperation project to intensify professional exchange between the HSZG, the DMHT and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
The focus of the visit was to gain insights into teaching and learning formats at German universities, particularly in the areas of German as a foreign language, teaching specialist languages and university didactics. In addition to observing classes / courses and exchange formats, the two guests also took part in the Teaching Day in Görlitz and used the opportunity to exchange ideas with lecturers, staff and students at the HSZG.
International encounters such as these show that universities are far more than just places for imparting knowledge. They create spaces for a change of perspective, cultural learning and personal encounters - and this is an important part of sustainable higher education.
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Many thanks to the speakers and participants of the panel discussion Dr. Annett Kaldich, Annika Thomas, Julia Jurczyk, Markus Will, Professor Sonja Schellhammer, Professor Maja Dshemuchadse and Sebastian Benad as well as the moderators Neele Hemmerling and Lea Uhlig.
Special thanks go to the organization team - Daniel Winkler, Miriam Meyer-Scheffel and Julia Rülicke - as well as Sven Müller for the photographic support.
We would also like to thank all participants for their interest, their contributions and their openness!
The Teaching Day 2027 will take place on 19.05.2027 as scheduled at the Zittau campus!
