In addition to the regular funding lines, the GLK has provided financial and non-material support for the following projects in the field of “Education for Sustainable Development”:
From 06-08.08.2021, students from Students for Future Mainz organized a student conference to discuss the importance of climate change for university teaching and learning. Project managers: Thomas Klisch, Inga Thao My Buy, Timo Graffe, Jens Frederic Becker. Further information can be found here.
The aim of the project was to institution a “certificate” for sustainable development (SD) at JGU in order to impart ideas, knowledge and skills for individuals and society to deal with the complex of topics of holistic sustainable development (including as a result of climate change) as part of the National Support Plan for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Duration: 2022-2024 Project manager: Prof. Dr. Holger Tost, Prof. Dr. Peter Spichtinger. Further information can be found here.
The future module is intended to help establish aspects of education for sustainable development (ESD) in university teaching. To this end, an interdisciplinary, innovative required elective module was initially designed with a focus on the topic of climate change, in which students from various faculties can earn credit points. This consisted of an interdisciplinary lecture series held every semester, which addresses aspects such as climate justice and sustainability, as well as a project seminar in which students can design interdisciplinary projects under personal supervision. You can find a brief report on the 2022-2025 project here. In the meantime, a “Future Certificate” has even been established. Project managers: Prof. Dr. Klaus Wendt, Prof. Dr. Sebastian Seiffert, Dr. Ute Becker, Timo Graffe. Further information can be found here.
To adapt teaching and learning structures to the requirements of digital change, the GLK has funded the project “Coordination Office for Digital Change in Learning and Teaching”. This was institutionalized in 2019 to support the peer-to-peer advising of the Higher Education Forum on Digitalization (HFD). The activities of the coordination office were divided into two areas of specialization: Firstly, learning in a digital world, i.e. the development of more flexible, diversity-sensitive learning structures with recourse to digital learning environments and blended learning offerings, and secondly, learning for a digital world, i.e. the integration of learning opportunities for sovereign action (living, researching and working) in a digitalized world – at both curricular and extracurricular level.
The coronavirus pandemic has given the work carried out by the Coordination Office in the run-up to the peer-to-peer visit a previously unimagined significance. As a result, the Coordination Office was able to provide the best possible support for JGU’s pandemic-related transition to digital teaching until the project’s funding expired at the end of 2020. Since then, the tasks of the Coordination Office have been continued as part of the “Digital Teaching and Learning Coordination Office” in the Development and Planning Department of the University Development Division. Further information on digital teaching at JGU can be found here.
The GLK funded the “Data Literacy Education” project 2019-2020. The term “data literacy” refers to basic skills in dealing with (especially digital) data: understanding and interpreting, visualizing and evaluating, exploring and contextualizing or even curating data. The coining of the term is based on the conviction that the handling of data is becoming increasingly important – not only in many academic disciplines, but also outside of academia. The aim of the “Data Literacy Education” project was to identify and specify those “data skills” that are useful for students due to the digitalization of subjects and the working world. Further information on data literacy at JGU can be found here. Information on the JGU certificate “Data and Information” can be found here.
The GLK has provided extensive funding for the design and testing of new structures to improve the entry phase:
- Faculty 05: Q+ – The special offer for students who want to know more. Duration: 2016-2020 Project managers: Prof. Dr. Sylvia Thiele, Dr. Doris Lindner. Further information can be found here.
- Faculty 07: Empirical research on “bottlenecks” in the entry phase. Duration: 2018-2020. project managers: Prof. Dr. Marietta Horster, Prof. Dr. Meike Hensel-Grobe, Dr. Andreas Frings
- Faculty 08: STEM introductory semester (Studium Naturale). Project manager: Duration: 2018-2020 Project manager: Prof. Dr. Manfred Lehn, Dr. Anton Malevich
With the external teaching stays, the GLK aimed to promote the national and international exchange of information and experience in the field of teaching and the networking of committed teaching staff with another, preferably foreign, higher education institution. The two-week to max. six-month external teaching stay served to examine methodological and didactic concepts and/or other forms of teaching and learning content. A total of seven teaching visits were funded. External teaching visits were part of the GLK funding portfolio until 2020.
As part of the guest lectureships, subjects or higher education institutions were able to invite external academics and artists with proven teaching expertise to JGU for a teaching stay funded by the GLK. The two-week to max. six-month stay provided new impulses for the examination of methodological and didactic concepts and/or the (further) development of forms of teaching and learning as well as teaching content at JGU and strengthened networking among the teaching staff. The GLK has funded 27 guest lectureships; the funding line was completed in 2020.
In recognition of special student achievements, the GLK awarded prizes for outstanding term papers and final theses as well as doctoral dissertations in medicine between 2010 and 2020. The selection was made by the faculties and higher education institutions according to predefined criteria. Two prizes for final theses (or one prize per higher education institution) were funded per faculty and semester. Funding was available for up to 26 prizes per academic year, depending on the number of students, for outstanding term papers in the humanities and social sciences faculties at JGU. Some faculties continue this funding line; information on this is available from the Dean’s Offices.
