Crisis communication

Whether cyberattack, rampage or financial scandal – Germany’s universities are often inadequately prepared for crises. Yet the management of crises is one of the greatest challenges, especially in universities due to their special organisational structure. Especially in severe crises, their managers have to make numerous decisions under high time pressure, for which there is hardly any time for coordination in the responsible committees or with supervisory authorities. This results in serious mistakes that lead to a loss of trust in the management level and can lead to sanctions.

In cooperation with the Institute for Conflict and Crisis Management (IKKM), we offer a workshop specially developed for universities. Leaders at universities learn best practice solutions for preventing, reacting to and following up on crises at the different university levels. They prepare communication channels, methods and instruments of crisis management, plan their use and thus acquire leadership competence for emergencies.

Our offer includes:

2-day workshop for up to 16 people.

• Day 1: Participants* learn about common types of crises at universities as well as university-specific challenges for crisis prevention and response. This is followed by a minimum six-week follow-up period where participants* are invited to adapt the measures discussed to their needs.
• Day 2: Crisis communication tools are finalised and their university-specific uses for prevention, response and rehabilitation are agreed upon.

The workshop will be led by an experienced crisis communication expert who is familiar with the specific challenges of crisis communication at universities from an internal and external perspective.