Ten million for better teaching at FAU

Presentation of the funding certificate in the Orangery in Erlangen: Prof. Dr. Friedrich Paulsen, Vice President for Teaching and Learning; Stefan Müller, member of the Bundestag and Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research; Sónia Hetzner, Institut für Lern-Innovation, representative of the QuiS team; Prof. Dr. Antje Kley, Vice President for Teacher Training and Equal Opportunities; FAU President Prof. Dr. Joachim Hornegger (from left). (Image: FAU/Harald Sippel)

November 22, 2016

With its competition ‘Quality in Studying and Teaching’ (Qualität in Studium und Lehre – QuiS), FAU aims to make it easier for new students to master the transition into studying, to reduce the drop-out rate and to make teaching more innovative. ‘QuiS’ has been operating successfully at the university since mid-2012. During the first funding phase (2012 to 2016), FAU received 11.5 million euros from the ‘Teaching Quality Pact’ of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Following its very positive interim evaluation, FAU will have an additional 10 million euros available for improving teaching during the second funding phase from 2017 to 2020.

‘With the Teaching Quality Pact we hope to improve advising for all students and the quality of teaching. To this end FAU has developed a diverse collection of measures to simplify the transition into studying and to foster students’ motivation, investigative spirit and sense of responsibility,’ said State Secretary Stefan Müller. ‘FAU is not only looking out for its current students, but is already thinking of its future students: its courses offered for gifted school pupils attracts and retains the brightest minds in our region. This is one way that FAU makes an important contribution to the future of our region and our country,’ continued Müller.

‘In our programme for better quality in higher education, we deliberately wanted to focus on difference between faculties, departments and subject cultures,’ said Prof. Dr. Antje Kley, Vice President of FAU. ‘Using the BMBF funding we were able to implement tried and tested teaching models in the highly popular and niche subjects for the long-term, and simultaneously provide new ideas for innovation. We are committed to continuing on this successful path.’

The QuiS programme has four cornerstones. It aims to help new students master the transition to the university by offering, for example, the platform ‘MeinStudium’ (www.meinstudium.fau.de), which helps prospective students find the right degree programme for them. Special programmes such as the orientation course for humanities and social science students, the ‘STEM Start’ programme for natural science and engineering students or the simulations in business and economics are intended to provide orientation for new students at the university and in their field.

With more staff at Student Services, students have better access to support for all their questions about their studies. Additional qualification programmes for tutors and language instructors will improve the quality of teaching for students even more in the future. In a university-wide offensive aimed at digitalising teaching, FAU is developing a range of initiatives for personalised mentoring and qualification of instructions in the field of innovation and digitalisation in teaching.

Further information:

For more information on QuiS, please visit: quis.fau.de
Prof. Dr. Antje Kley
Phone: +49 9131 8529313