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University care training
02 December 2022
Dr. Lukasz Hill and Laura Wallor, both Senior Consultants at CHE Consult, together with Bettina Dauer, Research Associate at the Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung in Bonn, describe success factors with regard to learning venue cooperation and organisation in higher education care training in the journal “Wissenschaftsmanagement”.
In the article, the authors outline challenges in the cooperation between universities and practical institutions and formulate recommendations for action that can facilitate this. This was preceded by a study commissioned by the Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung. It shows that a large number of cooperation partners can make coordination processes and communication more difficult. For this reason, the higher education institutions surveyed in the study defined different forms of exchange between the higher education institution and the practical institution.
In their article, the authors state that the higher education institutions and their practice partners face numerous structural and financial challenges. The cooperation between learning venues within the framework of university nursing education currently requires a high degree of flexibility and commitment from all participants. Essential factors for linking the two places of learning, theory and practice, are a cooperative, organisational coordination and coordination of the content of the studies. A common understanding of the goals of the cooperation, tasks and roles of the partners involved is essential for learning location cooperation. This should be anchored in writing in a cooperation agreement. Another success factor is the involvement of the practical institutions in the planning of study programmes, especially since, according to the study, the institutions showed a lot of interest in a deeper cooperation. Above all, the university’s module handbook should be communicated transparently to the practical institutions.
Register now: CHE Online Forum
30 August 2022
On 19 and 20 October 2022, the CHE Online Forum “Strategische Nachhaltigkeit – wie und wozu messen?” (German) will take place. The online forum will be held with the support of CHE Consult, XOLAS and PRME.
Sustainability has become a central challenge for higher education institutions on various levels. A prerequisite for managing sustainability processes based on empirical evidence is the measurement of sustainability. The CHE Online Forum addresses questions of necessity, operationalisation and application as well as opportunities and risks of measuring sustainability strategies.
Global challenges such as advancing climate change, resource scarcity, threatening biodiversity loss as well as inter- and intra-state conflicts and social inequalities threaten present and future life. A comprehensive transformation is needed to put society as a whole on the path to sustainable development. But what role does the institution of higher education play in this context?
If universities want to make a positive contribution to a sustainable societal transformation process, this must relate to several levels: On the one hand, this positive contribution refers to primary performance dimensions of higher education institutions (teaching and studies, pedagogy, research, avoidance of unethical cooperation) and to management and organisation of higher education institutions (e.g. energy and resource management). On the other hand, non-university activities are expected, such as intensified cooperation with primarily local actors from society and business, especially in the form of sustainability-related projects. In addition, students demand a “more open ear” from the respective university management for student concerns as well as active support of student initiatives by the university.
The forum will address these topics in keynote speeches and interactive workshop sessions, from the management of sustainability in universities, the consideration of sustainability aspects in studies and teaching, including sustainable management teaching, as well as in research and transfer. Special attention will be paid to the measurability and measurement of the different aspects of sustainability. Keynote speakers are:
- Prof. em. Dr. Thomas Dyllick, Director at the Institute for Business Sustainability CH-IB, Prof. em. for sustainable management and former Vice President University of St. Gallen,
- Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Fröhlich, President (acting) of the CBS Cologne Business School, and
- Regina Obexer, Senior Lecturer & UN PRME Coordinator at MCI | The Entrepreneurial School
Effects of a team coaching
17 August 2022
In an article for the journal “Wissenschaftsmanagement”, Jens Engelke, Principal Consultant at CHE Consult, presents an example of how team coaching is carried out, including all the essential steps.
The article is based on a team coaching that was carried out at a university. At the same time, the article generalises corresponding procedures in order to give the reader suggestions for team coaching.
The initial situation for the team coaching was characterised by a certain dissatisfaction of the employees in an organisational unit of the university administration. The team consisted of seven people and a manager. Some of the people had been working in the same position for many years, others were new to the team. The team’s areas of responsibility were partly changed, processes were digitalised and thus also modified. All in all, there were numerous major and minor changes for the team.
Jens Engelke describes three phases of team coaching:
Phase 1: Preparing the team for coaching and establishing a trusting working relationship.
Phase 2: Conducting a workshop to identify and discuss the team’s strengths and weaknesses, agreeing on solutions.
Phase 3: Introduce a feedback culture in which positive aspects are mentioned and negative aspects are communicated constructively.
According to the authors, teams or working groups should use team coaching when there is potential for improving cooperation and not only when there is conflict.
Successful team coaching requires an internal or external expert to ensure that critical situations are always discussed constructively at crucial moments, thus maintaining the positive dynamics of a team coaching workshop.
Digital transformation at the University of Hohenheim
15 July 2022
CHE Consult has supported the University of Hohenheim in launching a comprehensive change process for digital transformation and helped shape a trend-setting strategy paper.
The University of Hohenheim wants to shape research, studies and teaching, but also the university administration, more innovative, more efficient and more future-proof. A strategy for digital transformation, coordinated with the university’s structural and development plan 2023 to 2027, is intended to contribute to this. In order to achieve university-wide acceptance for the complex project, the digital transformation will be actively developed and implemented as a participatory and future-oriented change process. The basis for this process and decisions to be made in the course of the process is a strategy paper that has already been developed with the participation of university members. It has an initial term of five years and will be continuously updated.
In order to create content for the strategy paper, thematic online workshops, discussions and meetings took place. Most of the ideas and text modules were developed in a “think tank” composed of people from different faculties and status groups, which met regularly over a period of ten months and contributed a wide range of perspectives to the process. Project Manager Julia Klingemann, Principal Consultant at CHE Consult, moderated, analysed and comprehensively documented these meetings and prepared them for the strategy paper. This was discussed and adopted by the Rectorate of the University of Hohenheim, the University Senate and the University Council, three faculty councils and other important committees.
Prof. Dr. Caroline Ruiner, Vice-Rector for Digital Transformation at the University of Hohenheim, is very content:
“I would like to express my sincere thanks to Ms Klingemann from CHE Consult for the professional, customised and trusting support at the beginning of this important change process. Thanks to the participatory approach, we were able to very quickly adopt the strategy paper with the most important plans and a governance structure for the digital transformation, which is supported by all stakeholders. Thus, we now have an excellent basis for the implementation.”
New location for Kiel University of Applied Sciences
08 July 2022
CHE Consult has recommended that the Kiel University of Applied Sciences locate its new nursing degree programme, which is to be established together with the new health faculty, in Neumünster.
A few months ago, the Kiel University of Applied Sciences (UAS) commissioned CHE Consult with an expert report to determine a suitable location for the new nursing degree programme to be established. CHE Consult completed its analysis and came out in favour of Neumünster in the end. Bernd Klöver, Managing Director of CHE Consult, presented the report to the media on 1 July in Berlin together with the University President’s Office of Kiel UAS.
“We are pleased that with the completion of the report a location has been found that optimally meets our requirements,” says Prof. Dr. Björn Christensen, President of Kiel UAS. “With the Friedrich Ebert Hospital as a cooperation partner, the quality of teaching for the important dual degree programme is guaranteed.”
The basis for this decision is an analysis based on a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of various data such as demographic and economic figures, available living space and healthcare providers. Tobias Bergmann, Mayor of the new UAS location, is enthusiastic about the decision: “This is a great day for Neumünster. Neumünster is now a university city. We are pleased that we have convinced CHE Consult with our offer, our networking with the Friedrich Ebert Hospital and through our city itself, and we look forward to joint development with Kiel UAS in Neumünster.”
Implementation controlling for the THGA
29 June 2022
From 2016 to 2022, CHE Consult carried out structured implementation controlling for the university strategy project “THGA 2022” at the Technische Hochschule Georg Agricola zu Bochum.
The university strategy “THGA 2022” sets out how the University of Applied Sciences in Bochum should develop by 2022. For this purpose, numerous strategic measures were described in all university service areas. The THGA wanted to be informed – particularly from an external perspective – about the implementation status of these measures once a year on a sound and documented basis. They commissioned Jens Engelke, Principal Consultant at CHE Consult, with the corresponding controlling.
Jens Engelke and his team evaluated the status on the basis of reports from those responsible for implementing the respective measures and conducted structured interviews. In a report on the results, they informed the university about the implementation status of each measure. In addition, further recommendations for the implementation of the strategic measures were made in the sense of university development. In detail, the annual report contained the following:
- a summary of the identified implementation status and perspectives for the various strategic themes
- an overview of the implementation status of both ongoing and not yet started projects
- an assessment of the implementation status by the interlocutors
- key trends and challenges as well as opportunities and risks arising from the individual themes for the THGA
- measures taken by the THGA to deal with the perspectives, including ways to reduce obstacles, if necessary
- other information on how to ensure the sustainable success of the project
“The objective analysis from outside is very valuable in order to realistically assess our project status and to be able to initiate the next steps or new measures,” says Prof. Dr. Heike Kehlbeck, Vice President University Development. “Jens Engelke has already supported us very successfully in the past with various projects. The university members’ cooperation with him is always extremely trusting and always oriented towards the positive development of the university.”
Successful application
17 June 2022
We congratulate the 34 other higher education institutions that received funding for the recruitment and development of professorial staff. We are also pleased that CHE Consult was able to support some of the universities in their successful applications!
The promotion of the recruitment and development of professorial staff at universities of applied sciences is the concern of a joint programme of the federal and state governments. They will provide a total of up to 431.5 million euros for this purpose over a period of ten years, which will be provided in a ratio of 71:29 by the Federal Government and the respective host state. As part of a science-led selection process, projects at 64 higher education institutions were accepted for funding in the first selection round in November 2020. In the second and final selection round, a selection committee has now decided that 34 additional higher education institutions will receive funding. A total of universities of applied sciences in all 16 states will thus benefit from the Federal Government/State funding.
It serves to establish cooperation platforms, focus professorships, tandem programmes, cooperative and structured doctoral programmes, but also to implement further innovative ideas to improve the recruitment and qualification of professorial staff.
Planning the future of Kehl University of Applied Sciences
06 May 2022
CHE Consult supported the Kehl University of Applied Sciences in the preparation of its Structure and Development Plan 2023 – 2027. The main focus of the content-related and strategic consulting was on the areas of teaching, research and continuing education.
In an extensive and participatory process, Kehl University of Applied Sciences developed the essential content for its new Structure and Development Plan. Initially, four working groups on the topics of education & equality, digitalization & innovation, internationalization & sustainability/climate protection, and changing values & demographics prepared SWOT analyses for Kehl University of Applied Sciences. In three cross-status “ThinkTanks”, these were then discussed with reference to the areas of teaching, research and continuing education, and translated into fields of action and measures.
Julia Klingemann, Principal Consultant at CHE Consult, prepared, moderated and documented the exchanges. Based on this, it was possible to work out focal points for the duration of the new plan.
In particular, the range of study programs offered is to be expanded and made more flexible and international. In addition, it is planned to strengthen the areas of research and transfer. A wider range of academic, modular continuing education courses is to be offered to meet the growing demand for skilled workers among administrations at the municipal and (supra-)regional level.
All discussions focused on topics such as digitization and internationalization, as well as the question of how the performance of administrations can be ensured in the future in view of demographic change. In particular, the focus was on horizontal, cross-departmental dovetailing of administrations to meet the challenges facing society.
The participatory process was concluded with a major event in Kehl. Here, a World Café for university members and a panel discussion with representatives of the state and the municipalities took place.
In this context, Professor Beck, Rector of the Kehl University of Applied Sciences, said: “As good or bad as we research and train, as good or bad will the administration function later. Our strategy thus contributes to securing the future performance of municipal, local and state administrations. I am very grateful for the professional, expert support and moderation of our participation process by Julia Klingemann of CHE Consult. The results produced in the process form a solid basis for the Structural and Development Plan 2023 – 2027.”
Evaluation of “SCHULWÄRTS!”
01 October 2021
CHE Consult was commissioned by Stiftung Mercator to evaluate the programme “SCHULWÄRTS! – Lehramtspraktika International II” of the Goethe-Institut. The aim of the evaluation was to assess whether the qualitative and quantitative goals set for “SCHULWÄRTS!” were achieved.
“SCHULWÄRTS!” arranges and provides funding for the placement of student teachers at Goethe-Institut partner schools in over 40 countries. Applications are open to teacher training students and futere teachers, who are individually supervised. “SCHULWÄRTS!” was funded in a second funding phase by the German Foreign Officet and Stiftung Mercator. The scholarship holders are to gain international and intercultural experience, develop their teaching personality and be motivated for international educational cooperation.
Together with staff members of Stiftung Mercator and the Goethe-Institut, impact hypotheses were defined at the beginning of the project, which were then tested in the course of the evaluation.
Project Manager Laura Wallor explains: “We investigated to what extent the programme was able to achieve its goals, for example, to what extent teacher training students were encouraged by “SCHULWÄRTS!” to go abroad and whether they experienced an increase in competence and knowledge through their participation in the programme.”
In addition to the qualitative goals, quantitative goals (especially the number of internships supported) were also examined. Another important aspect of the evaluation was the identification of unique selling points and desiderata in the social field of action of “SCHULWÄRTS!”. Methodologically, the evaluation comprised an guided self-evaluation, an online survey of the scholarship holders, in which scholarship holders from the first funding phase were also included for comparison, interviews with scholarship holders, a document analysis of internship reports as well as interviews with experts.
Based on the results of the evaluation, CHE Consult developed proposals and recommendations for the further development of the programme and discussed them together with representatives of Stiftung Mercator and the Goethe-Institut.
Arthur Tarnowski, Project Manager at Stiftung Mercator in the area of Europe in the World, thanked CHE Consult for the evaluation: “Thank you very much for the evaluation of “SCHULWÄRTS!”. The structured and clearly communicated approach at all times made the punctual and high-quality implementation of the evaluation possible.”
Strategic Foresight for Higher Education Development
11 May 2021
An article for the journal “Wissenschaftsmanagement”, written by Julia Klingemann and Jens Engelke with colleagues from Z_punkt, sheds light on how higher education institutions can develop “foresight literacy”.
Higher Education Institutions are very familiar with creating or updating a Higher Education Development Plan (HEP). This plan usually describes the strategic direction and overall institutional plans for five years. But how future-proof are the usual approaches to HEP development?
In their contribution, the authors point out two aspects that are striking. On the one hand, it follows from the five-year perspective that longer and long-term developments in society, the economy, politics and other areas of (global) coexistence can only be moderately taken into account. On the other hand, little consideration is given to opportunities and risks induced outside the institution (“outside-in” perspective), which result from long-term developments in the Higher Education environment.
In response to this observation, the authors suggest initiating the method of strategic foresight for more than five years in order to be able to take into account diverse trends and drivers of developments – local to international – in the planning. This could also promote “changeability”, the positive mental attitude towards change. By discussing possible futures, the authors say, the flexibility and agility of the organisation can be increased.
Strategic foresight is not understood as prognostics. Rather, it is about systematic preparation for possible developments, including those that are “improbable” or “utopian” from today’s perspective. The methodology should enable joint thinking and talking about alternatives as well as the development of options for action.
The spectrum of methods is broad and includes quantitative, expert-based, interactive as well as creative approaches. Frequently used are strategic trend analyses, explorative and normative scenario techniques as well as Delphi surveys, often in combination and adapted to the specific insight interest, the situational application context and the previous experience as well as time resources of the participants.
The article presents a six-phase model for strategic foresight. It describes how leaders of Higher Education Institutions can take the first steps and dive into a foresight pilot phase.