Magdalena Selbig

Talent, Profile, Collaboration, Impact, and Spirit - seated in front of the symbolic colors of the five TUD fields of action, Rector Prof. Ursula M. Staudinger, together with members of the Extended University Executive Board and the spokespersons of the Clusters of Excellence, welcomed more than 1,000 listeners in the ballroom Dülferstraße to the digital information event " Excellent. Together." In the same place where TUD rejoiced over its renewed title of excellence a year and a half ago, the goals and highlights of the excellence event were outlined on December 7, 2020. Eight speeches by those involved not only outlined the diverse activities of the Clusters of Excellence (the "entry ticket" to the title of Excellence), numerous activities from the Excellence Program were also outlined and insight was provided into a broad portfolio of work. Finally, questions from the live chat regarding administrative processes, excellence benefits, building autonomy or improving teaching were answered.  "We hope you are as excited and eager to continue your work as we are. Today, we will focus on the Excellence-part of our strategy: 'TUD 2020-2025'," the Rector contextualized the promotion of excellence as an aspect of the overall strategy of the University Executive Board. For the further development of TUD, Prof. Staudinger announced a monthly continuation of the Future Labs. The Vice-Rectors Prof. Angela Rösen-Wolff (Research) and Prof. Roswitha Böhm (University Culture), as well as Prof. Lars Bernard (Chief Officer for Digitalization and Information Management, CDIO), set their priorities. The introduction was followed by brief presentations of the three Clusters of Excellence: Prof. Frank Fitzek (CeTI) emphasized the interdisciplinary exchange that the CeTi Bar, for example, will promote. The home of this scientific hub will be the "Project House Future", an excellence measure supported by the Saxon state government in the two-year budget. Prof. Matthias Vojta (ct.qmat) underlined the more than 200 publications that have emerged from the Cluster of Excellence since 2019. For the PoL cluster, Prof. Stephan Grill highlighted the appointments that have been made and the establishment of a Master's program in 2021.

Following this, members of the University Executive Board explained excellence activities in their fields of work. Prof. Rösen-Wolff discussed the promotion of young researchers, using the Graduate Academy as an example: "In cooperation with the HZDR, we will offer tailored career tracks and establish a new funding program in 2021. With the 'Postdoc Starter Kit', up to 10,000 euros to cover expenses can be applied for." The potential areas with a focus on the humanities and social sciences and the topic of disruption were presented. New Clusters of Excellence are planned in data science, neuroscience, water research, automated and networked mobility, hydrogen research, microelectronics, lightweight construction and medicine.

The main goal of the new Vice-Rector University Culture is "to make TUD an excellent role model for a socially responsible institution that has an impact on society," says Prof. Böhm. The focus is on social discourse and a diversity-sensitive research atmosphere. Among other things, the event "Diversity in Dialog" as part of the excellence measure "TUD in Dialog" embodies this idea. The Diversity Days are also being continuously developed. The Eleonore Trefftz Visiting Professor Program, which will bring three female researchers to TUD in 2021, aims to achieve a balanced gender ratio. The University Executive Board is addressing the issues of the environment and sustainability in the "Campus Design Master Plan," among other things.

In connection with the core topic of digitalization, the Excellence Proposal provides for a CDIO. Prof. Bernard's task would be the strategic management of digitalization processes and information management in collaboration with committees and advisory boards. Next steps would be in agile administration (e.g., digital vacation planning) and teaching, which experienced a rapid digitalization push due to the Corona pandemic. Prof. Bernard mentioned Prof. Nagel's efforts to make Dresden one of eight German centers for high-performance computing research and Saxony one of five German locations for an AI center. He said this favored research projects such as ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig, the SynoSys excellence project, and the development of the Lehmann Center II. Finally, Bernard addressed the audience, "I need your support to accomplish these tasks."

The Rector summed up challenges pertaining to strategic university development: for further development into a modern employer, efficiency increases in recruitment and procurement at TUD are just as necessary as proactive human resources development that promotes the well-being and productivity of individuals: "It is essential that we strengthen our talent management and are well prepared for generational change without losing the experiential knowledge of seasoned employees." Excellence funds are being used specifically for this purpose. Plans are also underway to expand the DRESDEN-concept network into a science campus. Moreover, this network is an arsenal that makes TUD particularly attractive in terms of competitive offers.

The replies to the direct questions showed that the Rector does not see the promotion of excellence as a threat to the Humboldtian ideal of education: "Let me assure you that the current University Executive Board has focused attention on the unity between research and teaching." The cluster spokespersons added: "Those who see excellence as a trade-off with teaching are making a mistake. We can advance students through modern inquiry." With that, Prof. Staudinger closed the information session with promising interim results.

The event is posted on the TUD YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/9vrp4D9qUHY
Information on the vision of the University Executive Board is available at
https://tu-dresden.de/tu-dresden/profil/vision-und-strategische-ziele
Questions and suggestions are handled by the Excellence Strategy Communications Team: .
A newsletter subscription can be made at tud.de/exzellenz.

University of Excellence - at a glance:
In July 2019, TUD was named a University of Excellence for the second time. Funding commenced in November 2019. The title requires at least two clusters of excellence, a convincing overall strategy of the university and excellent performance in all fields of action. "TUD 2020-2025" is the name of the University Executive Board's overall strategy with goals for teaching, research, third mission, diversity, digitalization, and much more. The Excellence Program makes significant contributions to the realization of the overall goals. The program's 40 measures address, among other things, the promotion of early-career scientists, research-oriented teaching, internationalization, science communication or internal participation. Excellence funding from the federal government and the Free State of Saxony amounting to approximately 87 million euros will finance the implementation of the excellence measures until 2026. A continuation of the funding is possible in 2026 after an evaluation.