Great success for Fulda University of Applied Sciences
15 Jun 2022
Freuen sich über die positive Evaluation: (v.l.) Prof. Dr. Arnd Steinmetz (Hochschule Darmstadt), Prof. Dr. Eva Waller (Hochschule RheinMain), Wissenschaftsministerin Angela Dorn, Prof. Dr. E.P. Dievernich (FRAUAS), Prof. Dr. Claudia Kreipl (Hochschule Fulda) und Prof. Dr. Matthias Willems (Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen). Foto: Jens Steingässer
It was a much-noticed step in the German higher education and science landscape: in 2016, Fulda University of Applied Sciences became the first university in Germany to be awarded an independent doctorate by the then Hessian Minister of Science, now Minister President Boris Rhein. Since then, Hessian HAWs have been awarded this right for disciplines in which they have proven to be particularly strong in research - but initially for a limited period of time. On behalf of the Hessian Ministry of Science, the first four doctoral centres established at HAWs in Hesse have now been positively evaluated by a top-class, independent scientific commission. This is a great success for Fulda University of Applied Sciences and its pioneering work, as two of the four doctoral centres are run by it alone, while it is also involved in the other two, cross-university doctoral centres.
Many eyes in the German science and higher education system turned to Wiesbaden yesterday, where Science Minister Angela Dorn in person and the Commission's Chair, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Kleiner, President of the Leibniz Association and former President of the German Research Foundation (DFG), presented the evaluation report at a specially convened press conference. In it, the commission comes to the clear and unequivocal conclusion that Fulda University of Applied Sciences and the other participating Hessian HAWs have successfully developed the independent right to award doctorates for research-intensive disciplines and are able to exercise the right to award doctorates according to high quality standards. An important statement, because: The right to award doctorates for the centres that have been positively evaluated can now be extended for a limited period of time. For quality assurance purposes, they are to undergo regular evaluations, as is common practice in the academic world.
"A model for other federal states"
"The independent right to award doctorates for HAWs is important because it closes gaps in the science and economic system. It opens up individual opportunities for students and social opportunities through the application-oriented research it supports. Because we need the research of HAWs for innovative, practical and interdisciplinary answers to important challenges such as climate change and species extinction, global crises and wars and the digitalisation that permeates all areas of life," explained Science Minister Angela Dorn. "Hessen was the first federal state to enable its HAWs to have an independent right to award doctorates in research-intensive disciplines. The evaluation shows that our model is successful and rightly serves as a model for other federal states. And we are also investing financially in strengthening research at HAWs. For example, the state has been providing the five HAWs in Hessen with considerable funds since 2021 to build up a scientific mid-level staff and, in particular, to finance qualification positions. The funds for this are increasing annually; in 2023 they will amount to 13 million euros per year. I would like to thank Prof. Kleiner and the Evaluation Commission for their well-founded and differentiated report. We will implement their valuable recommendations, regularly review the further development of the right to award doctorates at HAWs in Hesse and develop it further. We will now enter into a process with the HAWs to implement the recommendations and establish a working group for this purpose."
"The commission was able to see for itself that sustainable structures for the supervision of qualitatively demanding doctorates have been established in the doctoral centres of Hessen's universities of applied sciences that were examined, and that in a very short time. This is an impressive achievement," says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Kleiner, Chairman of the Evaluation Commission, summarising the result. "We would like to encourage the state and its HAWs to now initiate the next phase, to give the doctoral centres a stronger profile in terms of content as places of research and to further develop them conceptually, focusing on the specifics of the university type and the starting point of application-oriented research."
Milestone in the history of Fulda University of Applied Sciences
Even though the overall verdict of the review panel did not come as a complete surprise to him, in the view of University President Prof. Dr. Karim Khakzar it is a milestone in the history of Fulda University of Applied Sciences, but also of HAWs in Hesse and in Germany as a whole. As spokesperson for the 118 HAWs organised in the German Rectors' Conference (HRK), Khakzar has been campaigning for years for the right to award doctorates at HAWs and at the time negotiated the guidelines for the introduction in Hesse for the HAWs in Hesse. "The fact that Fulda University of Applied Sciences is so strongly represented in the first four doctoral centres that have now been evaluated documents the research strength of our university," says Khakzar with great pleasure. The Hessian model is a model for other federal states. Saxony-Anhalt, for example, recently created practically identical opportunities. In almost all other federal states, similar implementations are being worked on.
In its evaluation report, the commission made a number of recommendations that should serve the future development of the doctoral centres. For example, a scientific advisory board should be set up for each doctoral centre to provide constructive and critical support for future developments of the respective centre. As already mentioned, the commission also recommends that the doctoral centres be independently evaluated every seven years for quality assurance purposes, as is common practice for non-university research institutes and in large federal-state programmes.
In Hessen there are currently seven doctoral centres in various disciplines, three of which are inter-university. In addition to the general conditions and procedures for the right to award doctorates set by the state of Hessen, those doctoral centres that have existed for at least four years were evaluated: The doctoral centres "Public Health" and "Social Sciences with a focus on Globalisation, European Integration, Interculturality/Fulda Graduate Center of Social Sciences" at the University of Applied Sciences Fulda as well as the respective cross-university centres "Social Work" (lead: RhineMain University of Applied Sciences) and "Applied Computer Science" (lead: Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences).
In addition to Professor Kleiner, the members of the commission were: Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Christian Facchi (research professorship for embedded and networked systems and head of the Graduate Centre at the Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences), Prof. Dr. Anne Friedrichs (former president of the University of Health, Bochum), Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Hans-Hennig von Grünberg (professorship for knowledge and technology transfer at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Potsdam and former president of the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences), Prof. Dr. rer. nat. President of the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences), Prof. Dr. Stefan Hornbostel (former Head of the Department of Research System and Economic Dynamics at the German Centre for Higher Education and Science Research, DZHW) and Prof. Dr. Andreas Vasilache (Chair of Social Science European Studies and Director of the Centre for German and European Studies at Bielefeld University). In addition, two expert reviewers per doctoral centre supported the commission in its work.