Harnessing shared potential and pulling together
National partnerships enhance TUD’s teaching and research profile
Beate Diederichs
We work in similar ways, pursue similar goals, and face similar challenges. So what could be more natural than supporting each other? TU Dresden collaborates with several other universities across the city and the nation.
More than ten years ago, the Bologna reform led to the introduction of Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programs at Germany’s universities of science and technology (Technische Universitäten). That meant the end of German Diplom degree programs at almost all institutions. There was criticism of this, as the German engineering Diplom degree was to some extent seen as a guarantee of quality. “Several large institutions like ours realized at that point that it would be useful for them to present a united front and fight together for their interests. That is why TU9, an alliance of leading universities of science and technology, was set up in 2006. TU Dresden was a founding member,” says Dr. Nicole Saverschek, director of TU9. The network also includes TU Berlin, the University of Stuttgart and TU Munich, among others. The Berlin office of Nicole Saverschek and her staff is where everything is coordinated. The nine institutions together develop and advocate common principles for higher education policy questions, operate a joint website, appear together at careers fairs, and carry out joint projects such as “TU9-ING-Woche,” a taster week for students from German schools abroad, the TU9-BIT Summer School at the Beijing Institute of Technology, and MOOC@TU9, an English-language online lecture series. Another joint project was the two-year Acatech study, in which universities conducted extensive data analysis to obtain new insights into the number of and reasons for dropouts in engineering. “TU Dresden is involved in all of these projects,” Nicole Saverschek is keen to tell us. TUD also acts as a conference venue: In mid-June, the TU9 convention was held in Dresden. The German-Korean Science Conference, which is held in Germany every two years in collaboration with a TU9 university, took place in Dresden in 2016.
Work on doctorates in cooperation with business shows that it often makes a difference when the “big nine” pull together on higher education policy. “Doctorates in collaboration with business are an exciting opportunity for junior researchers, in particular in the field of engineering. However, it must always be clear that the university is in charge,” says Nicole Saverschek.
Within Dresden, TUD collaborates with 27 partner institutions, from the Saxon State and University Library (SLUB) to the Dresden State Art Collections (SKD), the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, and a number of institutes. This network is called DRESDEN-concept. It also includes Dresden University of Applied Sciences (HTW) and Dresden University of Fine Arts (HfBK). “TUD and HTW Dresden signed a partnership agreement in 2012,” says Sonja Piotrowski, public relations officer for DRESDEN-concept. The agreement relates primarily to the math and computer science faculties at the two institutions. For example, the universities offer a joint degree with courses at both. Students looking to pursue a doctorate can do so with a team of supervisors from TUD and HTW Dresden. Highly qualified HTW graduates can work toward doctorates at TUD. TUD and HTW have reciprocal guest student arrangements. Lecturers from TUD and HTW Dresden also stand in for each other to cover prolonged absences. Students and lecturers have access to subjects that their own university does not offer but the partner university does. The DRESDEN-concept technology portal offers access to equipment and services provided by the other partners and puts you in touch with the right contact. KAtLA + – Kooperative Ausbildung im technischen Lehramt (“cooperative technical teacher training”) – at TUD and HTW Dresden provides comprehensive support for students of engineering disciplines at HTW Dresden who transfer to TUD for a teaching degree. The aim is to enable them to complete their State Examination for teaching sooner. The scheme is a pilot project funded by TÜV Süd – a branch of the German technical inspection association – and is designed to train more teaching staff in engineering.
Being able to attend classes run by the other institution is another benefit to students from the collaboration between TUD and HfBK. “For example, TUD students can sit in on lectures on the theater design program, and HfBK students can attend lectures in TUD’s wide range of humanities and social sciences subjects,” Sonja Piotrowski explains. Summer schools and graduate schools are open to participants from both institutions. And in the 2018/19 winter semester, there will be a seminar led by researchers from both universities: Frank Schmidt, a research associate at the Department of Art History at TUD, and Kathleen Rosenthal, a research associate at Körper und Malerei (“Body and Painting”), which is a HfBK Dresden project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The seminar is open to students from both institutions. “Partnerships between universities give all participants the opportunity of interdisciplinary work at a level that would not be possible at a single university. Often, partnerships also lead to useful links to research institutions with which the other university collaborates. Fundamentally, it is good for students to experience and compare different types of teaching: a more research-focused approach at universities, and a more practical focus at universities of applied sciences,” Sonja Piotrowski tells us.
More information:
https://www.tu9.de/
http://www.dresden-concept.de/de/home.html
This article appeared in the Dresdner Universitätsjournal (university newspaper, UJ) 17/2018 of October 30, 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 doreen.liesch@tu-dresden.de. More information can be found at universitaetsjournal.de.