Six Future Labs as part of TUD strategy up to 2028

Petra Tallafuss-Koch

How do you approach major issues for the future successfully and effectively? Even before the Future Labs, there was only one answer: Together! The series of Future Labs, which ran from January 21 to May 31 of this year, achieved what is in many places inconceivable: open, critical, constructive, honest, accepting, expert discussion on how we should work, research, and study together in the future at TU Dresden – and throughout the city of Dresden as a whole and beyond.

An average of 138 people (including the facilitation, organization, and documentation team) took part in each of the six Future Labs and thus in the development of an overall strategy for the TUD anniversary year 2028. In total, 59 people from the DRESDEN-concept alliance participated alongside teaching staff, students, and research support staff from TU Dresden. Fifty-nine people also visited three or more Future Labs, which – in line with the subject areas – covered a wide range of issues.

At the final Future Lab, the TUD Rector, Prof. Hans Müller-Steinhagen, thanked participants in all the Future Labs for consistently thinking outside the box. He believes that we can successfully shape the future together “when we think carefully, think laterally, think outside the box, above all, think ahead.” The participants could not have been better qualified: Many had years or even decades of experience in different fields at TU Dresden, and shared that experience in the Future Labs. Others were new to TU Dresden or came from a DRESDEN-concept institution and used the Future Labs to share their questions and suggestions for improvement.

Issues of university culture as well as career and human resource development were the focus of Future Labs 5 and 6. While the final Future Lab had six thematic groups just as the others did, there was a surprise highlight at the Future Lab on university culture: A cabaret-like comedy gave an entertaining introduction to the small and sometimes major pitfalls of everyday working life. The performance was followed by lively discussions on responsibility, corporate identity, collaboration, teaching and learning culture, communication, and a focus on solutions. The final Future Lab was all about human resource development and career paths. There was a focus on both research and research support staff and a discussion of training options, funding and support needs. Numerous suggestions were made on leadership issues and on the development of career paths both within TU Dresden and in collaboration with partners in Dresden.

In short, the Future Labs produced a whole range of suggestions and ideas for improving the overall framework, services and funding instruments for (young) researchers, research support staff, and students. For example, there was a call for more work on the TUD alumni culture and culture of welcome (for example through an interdepartmental “Welcome Day” for new staff). There were repeated requests for greater support and professionalization, for example in digital teaching, research and administration, course development, and intercultural communication. Indeed, communication is one broad field where participants saw a lot of room for change: within TU Dresden at a school level and between schools, between the academic and administration departments, and within the city of Dresden as a whole – with politicians, associations, and alumni, both nationally and internationally. There were also suggestions for improving the service culture and (further) professionalizing various (administrative) processes. Participants wanted the DRESDEN-concept and its benefits to be more visible; in particular, for teaching to be understood and expanded as one of those benefits. There was endorsement of and useful feedback on existing measures, some of which had been implemented as part of the Institutional Strategy, for example the Graduate Academy, the European Project Center, the Project Scouts, the Welcome Center, the Research Pool, the Dresden Technology Portal, the FLiK modules, and the SprInt program.

A comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the discussion is underway now that the Future Labs are complete. Documentation on each Future Lab is being drawn up for publication in the password-protected section of the TU Dresden Excellence Strategy website. All this information will be used to help develop the University of Excellence proposal, as will the overall strengths, weaknesses and untapped potential established in the “Living SWOT” analysis. However, as Prof. Hans Müller-Steinhagen assured everyone on behalf of the University Executive Board, the feedback and information will also be considered and used independently of the Excellence Strategy.

Beyond the stated goal – namely to collect ideas and feedback on the status quo, potential for optimization and a “TUD 2028” vision – the Future Labs also produced a realistic picture of the current situation: an imaginative, changing university with great digital ambitions, responsible staff and students, and huge potential in terms of networking, processes, and career and human resource development.

Videos and documentation on the Future Labs are available at:
http://tu-dresden.de/zukunftslabore

This article appeared in the Dresdner Universitätsjournal (university newspaper, UJ) 12/2018 of June 26, 2018. The complete issue is available as a free PDF download here. Printed copies and PDF files of the university newspaper can be ordered from  . For more information, please visit universitaetsjournal.de.