Freiburg, Sep 30, 2021
Business Unit Science Communication and Strategy
“In this newly established business unit in the Rectorate, the subject areas of science communication and strategy have been combined,” explains Julia Wandt, “which allows us to better leverage the great synergies between science communication, communication in general and the strategic development of the University.” The part of the business unit Wandt is responsible for includes the divisions for university and science communication, overall planning strategy and university development, marketing and events, and relationship management and alumni. It thus encompasses all internal and external communications, knowledge transfer and overall planning for strategy and university development. “We view the University's overall strategy as an interrelated process that is supported by the new structure,” Wandt emphasizes. “There are different milestones on the University' s path to realizing its vision and goals, including the funding line for clusters of excellence in the next round of the federal and state Excellence Strategy, the structural and development plan, the full rollout in the European Universities Program, and the funding line for universities of excellence in the Excellence Strategy.”
The Business Unit Science Communication and Strategy also includes, in each case for the duration of the terms of office, the International Office Division, for which Prof. Dr. Daniela Kleinschmit, Vice-President for Internationalization and Sustainability, is responsible, as well as the Equality, Diversity and Academic Personnel Development Division, which is assigned to Prof. Dr. Sylvia Paletschek, Vice-President for University Culture. “We have organized the International Office division in such a way that the topics of orientation, mobility and partnerships for students, academics and other employees can be offered in one place,” Kleinschmit explains. The Equality, Diversity and Academic Human Resources Development division strengthens synergies between the topics of gender and diversity as well as academic human resources development, explains Paletschek: “In the newly created Equality, Diversity and Academic Human Resources Development division, we can further develop the content of these topics individually and at the same time view them in their entirety and their interconnections.”
The University and Science Communication division is responsible for science communication, knowledge transfer, institutional communication, communicative support for strategic topics, internal communication, online editing and, together with the marketing team, the further development of the corporate design. Internal and external communication are prerequisites for strategy development, positioning and image building, and thus for the University's identity.
The Marketing and Events division will bring together institutional marketing, research and student marketing both nationally and internationally, and event management. The division will support the University’s image building and mission statement process, thereby strengthening the University’s positioning and corporate identity. Combining the two areas will also allow better use of synergies between marketing and event management.
Acting as the University’s bridge to foundations, alumni work and fundraising, the Relationship Management and Alumni Division aims to further develop contacts and relationships with current and potential friends and supporters. Furthermore, the division would like to strengthen the academic policy consulting as well as the bridge to politics in general and support the University administration and scientists as well as politicians with their network of contacts.
The Overall Planning Strategy and University Development division, which is divided into the two areas of (1) strategy process, performance analysis and structural development and (2) university alliances and strategic partnerships, accompanies the continuous strategy formation and implementation at the University. To this end, it analyzes the University's performance, impact and potential in a national and international context and identifies future topics as well as University-wide development opportunities. The team accompanies university and science policy discourses and developments, identifies cooperation strategies, and supports the formation and development of university alliances on a national and international level. In addition, it advises the Rectorate on strategic and governance issues and supports the preparation and implementation of the federal and state excellence strategy. The department has responsibility for overall strategic issues and projects as well as benchmarking, bibliometric analyses and rankings. It embeds all current and future content-related strategic topics in the overall strategy of the University. In this way, it contributes to the formation of the University's image and creates foundations and structures for the development of the University and its future viability.
In the course of the reorganization, the former staff position International Office was assigned to the Vice-President for Internationalization and Sustainability as a division with the same name. The tasks of the International Office division will focus on maintaining and developing international partnerships, bundling mobility, and developing a welcoming culture. Linked to this is a consolidation of administrative units and personnel under the umbrella of the International Office division: in order to be able to organize the topic of mobility in its entirety, the area of the EU Office responsible for this, which was previously at Freiburg Research Services, and EPICUR mobility, which was previously in the Teaching Development division of the Teaching Development and Teaching Quality staff unit, now belong to the International Office.
The new Gender, Diversity and Academic Personnel Development division, which is assigned to the Vice-President for University Culture, brings together two areas of work - Gender and Diversity and Academic Personnel Development - which form promising overlapping fields that will be strengthened by the restructuring and whose synergies are to be better utilized. Gender and Diversity develops strategic concepts on equality and diversity at the University of Freiburg and represents both an independent area within the dvision and a cross-sectional task that permeates all service dimensions of the University. Academic Human Resources Development encompasses structural career development and interdisciplinary career support, especially for postdocs, scientists in permanent positions, and professors. An overlapping field of the two areas, which is now being strengthened, is the development of a diversity-sensitive academic personnel structure.
Business Unit Research and Innovation
“With the Freiburg Research Services division, I aim to offer scientists at the University of Freiburg the best possible environment for their research,” says Prof. Dr. Stefan Rensing, Vice-President for Research and Innovation. “That's why the new division, with its central office for technology transfer, simultaneously provides researchers with suitable opportunities for the real-life application of their inventions.”
The Freiburg Research Services division comprises four areas: The Science Support Center advises scientists on the application process (with the exception of EU applications). The EU Office advises researchers on EU applications and is also responsible for contractual matters. The International Graduate Academy supports doctoral candidates with regard to their training as scientists, in administrative matters and in relation to any issues. The Research Cooperation and Structures division supports the strategic development of the research area, for example by supervising the scientific centers and the clusters of excellence.
The Central Office for Technology Transfer includes the patent office, the contract office and the start-up office. For patent exploitation, the Central Office cooperates with CTF GmbH, a spin-off of the Medical Center and the University of Freiburg.
Business Unit Academic Affairs
The Business Unit Academic Affairs is assigned to the Vice-President of Academic affairs and comprises three divisions: Service Center Studies, Innovation and Quality in Teaching, and the Education Transfer division. "All of these areas contribute to bundling competencies and offerings in the area of learning and teaching," explains Prof. Dr. Michael Schwarze. “The new structure will strengthen synergies and cooperation between the divisions, departments, and the faculties.”
The Student Service Center division retains its proven structure. The vice-president continues to see the advantage of having administrative and advisory services under one roof.
The former Instructional Development and Instructional Quality staff unit will now become the Instructional Innovation and Quality division. The former Instructional Development division will become the Instructional Strategy and Digitalization (LD) division, which will continue to develop central, digital and innovative teaching projects. This will continue to be done in close cooperation with the e-learning division at IT Services, which will be relieved of other tasks. Since it is impossible to think of university didactics today without the inclusion of digital teaching, its importance will be reflected in the new name of the division - University Didactics and Digital Instructional Development (HDL). The division of Quality Management in Academic Affairs will become the division of Quality Management and Accreditation (QA).
The Freiburg Academy of Continuing Education (FRAUW) is dissolved and is transferred back to the Central University Administration. The former division Internal Further and Continuing Education at FRAUW will become part of Department 3 in the future, the divisions Center for Key Qualifications (ZfS) and Scientific Continuing Education (WB) will become divisions within the new division Educational Transfer. This, together with Knowledge Transfer (in the Science Communication and Strategy division) and Technology and Innovation Transfer (in the Research and Innovation division), rounds out the University's approach to knowledge transfer.
Organigram (in German)