Teaching for tomorrow

05 Apr Teaching for tomorrow

Angela Dorn, Minister of Higher Education, Hessen, sets forth the highly coordinated and thorough moves taken to make education in the region world-leading.

Hessia has continued to be an attractor of business and investment, receiving the highest foreign direct investment (FDI) compared to the number of jobs of all German states. A great part of the state’s attraction is its robust upper education capabilities that turn out a qualified future workforce and a highly active R&D ecosystem complete with directed research centers. To begin the interview, what are the state’s key strengths? How does Hessia differentiate from other German states and regions in the EU?

The state of Hessia, situated at the center of Germany, is well-known for its universities of applied sciences and research institutes—some of which are leading in certain research fields. Our region offers great opportunities for scientists and strives to attract talents in a number of fields. Current research priorities of the European Union like digitization, climate and health, and particularly pandemic-related and cancer research, are perfectly matching with Hessia’s research strengths.

Hessia counts fourteen state institutions of higher education, comprising five universities, three academies of music and art, five universities of applied sciences and another university specialized in the field of viticulture and horticulture. Hessia is also home to a number of several private institutions of higher education. Together, they constitute the heart of our knowledge society.

All institutions of higher education in Hessia carry out research and teach in all major disciplines, achieving a high standard of excellence. In addition to the state-financed institutions of higher education and private education centers, Hessia has a rich tradition of many highly competitive non-university research institutes. The wide range of expertise offered by our research institutes extends from natural sciences and medical research to engineering and the arts. These institutes are a major source of innovation and progress that reach far beyond Hessia’s borders. Many international scientists work in these institutions.

One Hessian program of utmost importance is branded “LOEWE,” a unique state program for the promotion of top-level research. Our state government is gradually increasing funding for LOEWE from around $66 million in 2020 to $110 million in 2025. My ministry recently enriched and extended the scope of this successful program. With our newly introduced LOEWE professorships, excellent researchers can participate in competitive calls to receive funding between $1.6 and $3.3 million (depending on their scientific field), for five years upon application. Moreover, the new funding line ‘LOEWE-Exploration’ gives researchers the chance to pursue their novel, highly innovative research ideas.

Students in Germany have performed above the OECD average for quite some time, thanks to a solid traditional education system. Hessia’s upper education sector is massive, with a large number of universities, technical colleges and art colleges. What major policies have supported the success of Hessia’s higher education sector? What hurdles does the sector face, and what kind of new opportunities can it take advantage of going forward?

Universities are rooted at the heart of our knowledge society. My mission as minister is to provide universities with great support and to agree jointly with them on objectives to be achieved. This allows universities to stay on course and to develop further. To this end, my state has presented the Hessian Higher Education Strategy, which is guided by the principles of reliability, equal opportunity and courage. The cornerstone of this strategy is the Hessian Higher Education Pact, which was launched back in 2021.

We have broadened its funding, and the pact is growing by 4 percent until at least 2025. This is a very solid and reliable financial framework for researchers in Hessia. In addition, we have developed a tailor-made higher education construction program (branded “HEUREKA”) with a volume of $1.9 million.

Besides our famous “LOEWE” program, we are implementing a specific “Digital Pact” equipped with $129 million for our universities. Our current state government has been investing much more in higher education than any previous state government in Hessia. To sum it up: we are offering more funding and more reliable long-term perspectives for our institutions in order to support their strategic development and to enable them to give students and scientists good conditions and equal opportunities.

We have agreed jointly with our universities to pursue several measurable objectives: improvements in teaching, good employment conditions, a better student-teacher ratio and fairer educational opportunities. Some of these goals have now been set on the basis of conditionalities so that allowances will only be awarded once they have been achieved. Against this background, we have very positive expectations regarding the strengthening and the strategic development and of our universities. We expect them to develop further, to build specialized profiles and to cooperate more deeply amongst each other. Let me highlight an example of more equal opportunities: our current improvement in the student-teacher ratio. Our state is supporting our universities with 300 new professorships. We also pay special attention to students whose parents did not have the chance to study, to students whose native language is not German, or those facing disabilities. The fact that students’ biographies are becoming increasingly diverse is an important development. We strive to attract all bright minds willing to develop solutions for the big questions of our time and the future, be it climate neutrality, innovations to prevent future pandemics, or thrilling innovations in the field of artificial intelligence/AI. We have increased particular funds, which specifically serve the quality of studies and teaching, from $2.2 million to an average of $27.6 million per year. In addition, we have agreed on a higher proportion of temporary positions for young scientists and more women professors.

The largest economic challenge in remembered history is the COVID-19 crisis. Hessia’s economic output fell by 5.6% in 2020, which is actually quite good when compared to the dip in other regions in Germany and worldwide gross domestic products (GDP). Schools needed to scramble to continue studies during lockdowns and foreign students coming into the mix dropped dramatically. Research centers needed to find new ways of carrying on with work. What impact has the COVID-19 pandemic had on Hessia’s education and research sectors? What has the state done to support institutions during the crisis and how is it tackling regrowth?

The pandemic has demanded a great deal of effort from our teaching staff at our universities to offer seminars and courses under the current conditions and to make student biographies a success. At the same time, the difficult pandemic situation with COVID peaks in 2020 and 2021 has led to impressive creativity of our teaching staff regarding both the conversion of courses to digital formats and the development of concepts to continue offering certain courses in small groups in presence based on distance and hygiene regulations. Every single person at our Hessian—teachers, employees and students alike—is highly committed and willing to explore new ways of teaching and learning. This is why the conversion to digital and hybrid teaching has succeeded in such an impressive and rapid way.

In recent months, my ministry has done a great deal to support universities during the pandemic and to provide resources to enable digital teaching and learning, thereby securing high standards. I invested a total of $3.1 million from the Digital Pact and could secure an amending budget for our digital summer term 2020, and an additional $2.5 million for hybrid teaching in the winter term 2020-21, originating also from the Digital Pact. I added $1.9 million from the Digital Pact to improve our universities’ IT infrastructure in the area of wifi and video conferencing to support digital teaching. For hybrid teaching & learning settings, I managed to secure funding of $16 million with the program “High quality in studying and teaching, good framework conditions for studying,” (QuiS).

Things are now starting to look a little better so that teaching at Hessia’s universities will once again take place in the presence of students in the upcoming summer term 2022. In view of better protection and prevention measures, the vaccination rate among students reaching up to 95 percent, testing strategies as well as thanks to tailor-made hygiene concepts, students should experience their universities directly on the ground. Universities must remain open learning places for all our students to communicate, discuss and forge opinions. Universities are social and living spaces, thriving on interaction between teachers and students, as well as among students themselves.

The other largest trend that is impacting industries at all levels is the digital revolution. From AI and robotics to massive advances in big data and fintech, the effects of this sudden rise in technologies has institutions and businesses scrambling to keep up and take advantage of new opportunities. How robust is Hessia’s digital infrastructure? What opportunities has the rise of digitization created in your key focus areas and what has the state done to support its implementation?

As far as our universities are concerned, it has been impressive to see how they have managed to switch over to almost complete online services within a very short period of time at the beginning of the pandemic two years ago. Teachers and students, as well as the many employees responsible for organizational issues and IT have made a huge effort.

The pandemic has boosted digital progress at universities, but that progress had started before the pandemic. Digital formats are not an end in themselves but make a valuable contribution to better learning and to the further opening, and thus democratization, of universities. During the pandemic, digital learning had to replace face-to-face formats.

But as a rule, digital means should rather complement face-to-face teaching. Digital teaching formats make it possible to better respond to the needs of students with different educational biographies. Digital learning should enable individual learning paths and times, and also provide additional opportunities for accessibility. This ranges from lectures accessible at any time on video and associated electronic formats of exchange such as video conferencing and chat rooms, to interactive learning formats, augmented reality labs and virtual reality applications which are still being developed. We also look into examination scenarios which could be exclusively based on electronic formats.

To make all this possible, I have secured a unique ‘Digital Pact’ in Hessia for our state universities with a volume of $123 million until the end of 2024. This pact stands for much more than just new computers. It allows for profound changes in teaching, research, infrastructure and administration. With this Digital Pact, we have pledged to develop universities innovatively and efficiently—so that they remain modern, competitive, high-performing and at the top of research and teaching standards. Digitizing teaching at university remains a priority for the years to come. In addition, $40 million have been earmarked for the establishment of the Hessian Competence Center for Artificial Intelligence. “Hessian AI” as a new center, developed by 13 universities, is attracting attention with its concept at European scale. With “Hessian AI” we are bridging the gap between strong basic research and highly relevant application.

The Russian aggression against Ukraine puts a particular spotlight on the discussion about cyberattacks and cyberwar. Highly relevant questions are: how dangerous are attacks resulting from the aggressor? Is German IT infrastructure now much more exposed to cyber risks? In this regard, the National Research Center for Applied Cyber Security “ATHENE”—based in Hessia since the beginning of 2019—is a true asset. ATHENE tackles important questions and problems concerning cyber security and privacy protection, develops solutions for them and supports business and public administration as well as company founders and start-ups in these topics. ATHENE works in an agile and efficient manner and can thus react to new challenges and threats rapidly.

When it comes to our cultural sector in Hessia my ministry has pledged to invest a total amount of $3 million in 2022 into new formats to present collections and museums in a new and innovative manner. Digital recording and presentation of cultural heritage is equally important for research and for issues of provenance. Digitization of cultural heritage constitutes the basis for our responsible action in dealing with Nazi looted property as well as with colonial heritage.

One of the larger trends to come out of the pandemic has been a real focus on sustainability. The recent successful COP26 forum in Glasgow saw a huge turn out of the financial sector looking to take part for investment opportunities. Coupled with the EU Green Deal, countries around the world are gearing up to hit net-zero targets and create more sustainable and circular infrastructure. How has the push for sustainability created opportunities for education and research centers in Hessia? What shining stars do we see in the state’s ecosystem that are trailblazers for the sustainable transition?

As lighthouses of our society, our universities work on scientific, economic, social and cultural innovations and findings that support sustainable social development. Our universities have a unique position in various dimensions of sustainability and are rooted at the crossroads of education, research, innovation, serving society and economy. Leaders, decision-makers and teachers of tomorrow are educated in these lighthouses, particularly those, who will advance the energy transition on the ground and in practice.

Hessia’s universities will continue to develop an individual sustainability strategy by the end of the first half of the Higher Education Pact’s term. New “green offices” are at the centre of our approach. In such sustainability offices, plans are being efficiently discussed on how to embed sustainability in teaching, research and transfer as well as in the university’s operational processes—e.g. by reducing business trips by plane to an absolute minimum. In this way, Hessia has committed to anchor sustainability at the heart of day-to-day management and long-term organization of universities.

Furthermore, from the 300 additional professorships with which we are supporting our universities, some will help to complement our climate protection plans: each university will fill at least one of the professorships with content related to the topic of sustainability. The professorships will strengthen the universities’ research in this area, promote interdisciplinary work and foster exchange with policymakers and society. We will also provide funding for additional projects fostering sustainability at universities, such as innovative concepts to increase energy efficiency and strengthen climate protection.

My ministry and I have also agreed individual sustainability targets with all state universities, which will be rewarded accordingly. In the future, a dedicated “sustainability commission” will be set up to support universities in implementing their goals and exchanging information. Climate protection concerns us all. Only if every single actor contributes to our climate goals, sustainability issues will have the clout they need.

We also promote sustainability in the arts. Our prize for “sustainable cinemas” is unique in Germany and fosters concepts of cinemas in Hessia, which are strongly based on the ideas of sustainability and environmental friendliness. The aim is to support the commitment of all cinemas in developing sustainable operations and social and environmentally friendly practices.

The largest sector affected by COVID-19 worldwide was tourism and services, and in relation the arts. As the effects of the pandemic wear off, Hessia’s rich cultural arts scene is looking for a rebound. Can you give us an overview of the importance of the state’s art ecosystem? What is the state doing to support it and what are your expectations for the sector in the future?

Our flourishing cultural sector is very diverse, from state funded organizations like big theaters and museums to initiatives mainly driven by unsalaried enthusiasts, from commercial event organizers to individual freelance artists. The painful truth is that the pandemic has hit the whole event, creative and cultural sector very hard. Even before the pandemic, the cultural sector was based on dedicated efforts of self-employment and cultural actors working with multiple jobs. Against this background I have launched funding programs in 2020, 2021, and another one very recently. Our government’s funding schemes have enabled many cultural organizations and institutions in Hessia to bridge the difficult period of pandemic-related restrictions and closures of cultural institutions and to prepare for endemic times with fewer restrictions.

With the first funding scheme, for which we secured around $55 million in 2020, we have succeeded in preserving the structures of our major festivals in Hessia, enabling more than 3,600 artists to continue their work, supporting around 200 venues in adapting to the corona restrictions, and promoting 1,200 innovative artistic projects during the pandemic.

With our second funding scheme, we focused on the need to preserve the diversity of Hessia’s cultural institutions until the end of the pandemic restrictions, enabling artists to continue their work, and maintaining and strengthening structures in the cultural landscape to enable rich and safe opportunities for culture despite the pandemic. We made a total of $33 million available for that second funding scheme.

For the current year, Hessia is spending a record-breaking $311 million to support the cultural sector in Hessia. This major investment represents an increase of 3.5 percent compared to 2021 and reflects the great importance that our government attaches to the cultural scene, even beyond the pandemic.

Here, too, we are investing in digitization – as already described: a total of $2.9 million, for example, for new formats to present and communicate collections and museums in a new and innovative manner.

One of Hessia’s cultural highlights is documenta, the contemporary arts bringing the most current and relevant art of its time to Kassel every five years. We decided last year that documenta fifteen will take place as planned in 2022, despite the pandemic. All documenta organizing partners will join forces to make this exhibition a success, notwithstanding difficult planning processes due to the pandemic. In this regard, we will take numerous precautions to make the famous world art exhibition a great event. The documenta exhibition shall radiate a sign of new beginnings, confidence and courage in challenging times.