On October 30, the Teaching Prize for 2019 was awarded as part of the joint meeting of the University Council and the Senate. Innovative teaching and educational concepts took center stage on this day.
What makes a university special? When, in addition to awarding prizes for outstanding academic achievements, lecturers can also look forward to receiving awards for their above-average commitment and outstanding achievements in the field of teaching.
The Teaching Award of the Year 2019 goes to a group of lecturers from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science consisting of Dipl.-Ing. M.A. Patrick Hornung, Dipl.-Ing. Kersten Kühne and Dipl.-Ing. Volker Brade. At the joint meeting of the University Council and the Senate of the HSZG on October 30, 2020, they were awarded the prize donated by the Förderverein der Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz e.V.
What makes their teaching so special? The course "Fundamentals of Control and Safety Technology (LST)" is an innovative teaching and learning concept that is unique to the university, closely interlinking e-learning elements with practicals on traditional technology - in the Zittau Süd signal box - and modern technology in the laboratory, as well as teaching the basics in the form of lectures.
One major challenge that has been overcome is the offer for various home universities that train the next generation of specialists for DB Netz AG throughout Germany. The integration into their curricula was so successful thanks to the blended learning approach that the qualification in LST takes place exclusively in Zittau.
The Vice-Rector for Education and International Affairs, Prof. Sophia Keil, is delighted: "This teaching concept contributes enormously to the appeal of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. With the adoption of the concept in the teaching canon of seven universities and colleges and the associated cooperation in six federal states, the teaching award winners have not only made a major contribution to securing skilled workers, but have also impressively demonstrated the innovative paths the HSZG is taking and transferring traditional teaching content into the future, especially in the area of blended learning."
The teaching prize is awarded every two years. The special nature of the award winners' teaching concept was also highly appreciated by the university's rector, Prof. Dr.-Ing.
The further development of teaching at the HSZG was also the focus of the joint meeting of the University Council and the HSZG Senate that preceded the award ceremony. In his presentation, the Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bernd Bellair, impressively demonstrated how new digital educational offerings at the HSZG could look in order to not only accompany the structural change as a university, but to help shape it in the long term.
This co-design is also the declared goal of the university's student body, as Lucas Wünsche from the Student Council emphasized afterwards. In his presentation, he not only emphasized the good cooperation between the StuRa and the Rectorate - especially in times of pandemic challenges - but also conveyed the perceived need and longing of the students he represents for interdisciplinary, project-oriented educational concepts.
Understanding structural change as an opportunity to turn apparent size and location disadvantages into advantages and to raise interdisciplinary and practical teaching to a new level in order to create a competitive concept for a future-oriented university and a new university self-image should be the declared goal of his university. "This is the only way the university can be a driver of change," emphasized the student.
Text: Cornelia Rothe
