The University of Bremen has for a second time scored success in “Qualitätspakt Lehre” [Quality Pact for Teaching], a joint program of the Federal Government and the Länder. The additional funding runs into millions, and it means that the University’s first program called “ForstA” [for ‘Research-based Learning from the Outset’] will now go into a second round with the title “ForstAintegriert”. This has just been announced by the Joint Science Conference in Berlin.
The Rector of the University of Bremen, Professor Bernd Scholz-Reiter, commented: “It’s another great success for our University and further proof that the quality of teaching here is exceedingly high, something that our newly appointed professors coming from other institutions often point out. The success of our proposal is also a clear sign that we are on the right track with our development goals in the area of academic teaching”. The Vice Rector for Studies and Education, Thomas Hoffmeister, who submitted the University’s proposal, was also visibly happy at the news. “We now have the financial prerequisites to continue building profile for the University of Bremen as the ‘University of Research-based Learning’ – both on the inside and to the outside”. Planned to start in January 2017, the “ForstAintegriert” project will follow on directly from its ForstA predecessor and run until 2020. Bremen as a whole did very well in the nation-wide call “Qualitätspakt Lehre”: Besides the University of Bremen, the Bremen University of Applied Sciences and the Bremen University of Art were also successful with their project proposals.
What is “ForstAintegriert” about?
Professor Thomas Hoffmeister explains the development perspectives for teaching at the University of Bremen and the goal of “ForstAintegriert” as follows: “Building on the experiences made with research-based learning in individual modules and projects, over the coming years we want to transfer the concept to encompass whole degree courses”. At the same time, the most successful elements of the ForstA program are to be further developed and refined. For example, the offer of writing coaches: Those are students who help their fellow students put the results of their research-based learning into words. This form of writing support – until now limited to relatively few subjects – will now be extended across all the Faculties of the University.
Freshers are another main focus of ForstA and ForstAIntegriert: Students right at the beginning of their university studies go through a particularly crucial stage, and there is a high danger of dropping out during this time. Instead of participating in the new program component “Uni-Start” just before or immediately prior to taking up studies, freshers will in future be able to receive support from tutors and mentors over the whole of their first semester. “Uni-Start” is designed to facilitate the transfer to studies and prepare freshers to deal with the challenging task of research-based learning. Hoffmeister describes his understanding of good teaching and good learning in these words: “As someone who enjoys teaching, I hope the project will awaken the interest and curiosity of freshers and that a researching inquiring habitus sets in from the very first day and continues throughout the whole time of their studies.”
If you would like to have more information on this topic, please contact:
University of Bremen
Vice Rector for Studies and Education
Prof.Dr. Thomas Hoffmeister
Phone: +49 421 218 60031
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