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Innovation in Higher Education Teaching

Innovative projects, more exchange and networks and quick knowledge transfer in academic teaching via the Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre initiated by the Federal Government and the Länder.

Opportunities

  • The Foundation enables innovation and increases the competitiveness of teaching. It strengthens the value of teaching at German universities on a lasting basis and provides for its visibility.
  • A constantly changing world, regional and global challenges require the dynamic development of academic study and teaching. The Foundation provides fresh impetus for quality teaching that is up to date.
  • The Foundation provides incentives for greater efforts to achieve innovations and quality improvement in teaching on a permanent basis. Its mission makes it unique in the world.

Strengthening academic studies and teaching on the ground, creating innovations in teaching, enhancing quality, testing new teaching and learning formats at universities – in combination with increasing exchange, better networking and lasting knowledge transfer: This is what the Federal Government and the Länder want to achieve in higher education. For this purpose, they created the Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre (Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education) under the umbrella of the Toepfer Stiftung gGmbH.

On 6 June 2019, the heads of government at Federal and Länder level signed the Federal Government-Länder Agreement on Innovation in Higher Education Teaching. As a follow-up to the Quality Pact for Teaching, its purpose is to enable renewal in higher education and the improved and quicker adaptation of teaching to new societal challenges and the needs of science and industry.

Annual amounts of 150 million euros are available on a lasting basis – initially provided by the Federal Government alone, and from 2024 co-funded by the Länder, which contribute 40 million euros. At its meeting on 6 December 2019, the Joint Science Conference (GWK) decided that the Toepfer Stiftung gGmbH should act as operator of the Foundation. The Federal Government and the Länder then established the Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre on 9 November 2020 as a new, largely independent charitable trust under the umbrella of the non-commercial Toepfer Stiftung gGmbH.

Incentives for teaching and learning innovations

Funding by the Foundation is to provide permanent incentives for the development of innovative teaching and learning formats. At the same time, the Foundation is expected to enhance exchange and networking between relevant players and to promote the transfer of knowledge about successful teaching and new results and findings.

Activities in brief – funding portfolio

The Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre fulfils its purpose by carrying out activities in three areas in particular:

  • Science-led project funding
  • Organization and support of nationwide exchange
  • Organization and support of knowledge transfer.

Funding of projects

Funding for innovative projects in academic study and teaching is based on science-led selection procedures and provided in three funding lines:

  1. Strategic and structural strengthening of higher education
  2. Current thematic challenges
  3. Open-topic testing of new ideas – transfer of tried and tested approaches to other subjects/universities.

Exchange/networking & knowledge transfer

In addition to project funding, the Foundation creates specific value added through the following activities:

  • Exchange of views on subject-related and cross-cutting issues
  • Networking between universities and stakeholders involved
  • Transfer of knowledge to a broad range of users

Editorial deadline for this text: 01.11.2024

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