University development and future scenarios: At the second public information event on Thursday, May 25, 2023, in the auditorium on campus and digitally, the University Executive Board informed the staff of Mainz University on the current status of the strategy process. At the same time, the participants took the opportunity to discuss the future course of the strategic development process of Mainz University of Applied Sciences with the Board and the external consulting team.
Ultimately, specific areas of action, goals, and measures will flow from the strategy process into the University Development Plan (HEP) for the years 2024 to 2028. “Our vision in this strategy process was broader from the start, until 2035, so as to lay important foundations for the future viability of Mainz University of Applied Sciences now,” said Mainz University of Applied Sciences has been in a consultation process for the strategic development of the university since the summer of 2022, supported by the external consulting firms Z_punkt and CHE Consult and their expertise in future scenarios and university development. The goals of this process are to ensure the future viability of the university, to identify topics for the future of the university, and to develop a shared basis for discussing these topics.
Focus group, future labs, and feedback workshops
To collect as many voices as possible from within the university and to obtain the perspectives of different university staff and students, these stakeholders took part in a variety of participation formats: After several focus group discussions with various status groups at the university and a review of several internal documents, an analysis of the current situation was prepared at the outset of the process. Next, the external consulting team compiled wishes and expectations for the future development of the university in four interdisciplinary and multi-perspective future labs, to which all university members were invited. A fifth future lab with the Executive Board and the deans took place as well.
Strategic deductions for the orientation scenario of Mainz University of Applied Sciences
Based on the input from the future labs and the steering committee (Executive Board and deans), the consultants used their expertise to develop five scenarios. These scenarios are abridged and condensed images of the future intended to make potential opportunities and challenges of the future more tangible – not as forecasts, but as model-like descriptions of possible, plausible futures that are intended to help identify options for action. Based on these scenarios, the steering committee derived implications for teaching, research, administration and transfer for an orientation scenario of the future of the German higher education landscape in 2035. This general orientation scenario was then used in four feedback workshops with university stakeholders to develop strategic derivations from the orientation scenario of the Mainz University of Applied Sciences.
Beginning of the drafting stage for the university development plan
Now that all the different voices have been heard and collected in various formats, the steering committee, with the support of the consulting teams, is entering the drafting stage for the University Development Plan (HEP). The HEP is required by law and sets goals and specific actions for the entire university for each five-year period. The draft of the HEP of Mainz University of Applied Sciences will be presented to all committees in the coming months for feedback so that it can be adopted by the Senate and University Council in December 2023. Another university public information event on the strategic development process is planned for this fall.
The Executive Board would like to thank all university stakeholders who have contributed to the strategic development process of Mainz University of Applied Sciences in a dedicated and constructive manner.
The orientation scenario and the resulting strategic deductions for Mainz University of Applied Sciences, which were presented in detail at the information event, were subsequently emailed to all staff members on May 26, 2023.
