New horizons for continuing education

The universities in the state of Baden-Württemberg offer many different continuing education options - be it individual workshops or part-time master’s degree programs. Until now, interested parties had to click through the websites of the individual universities to find these offerings. The new online platform Hochschulweiterbildung@BW aims to bundle the offerings, present them clearly and make it easier for interested parties to search for an individually suitable continuing education program and to register for it. The University of Freiburg will lead the project, supported by Furtwangen University. The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Art is funding the project with 11.73 million euros. “The transfer of knowledge and education is a central task of universities, and the University of Freiburg will bundle the expertise of the participating institutions to make it available to all interested parties and further strengthen the exchange between science and industry,” says Prof. Dr. Michael Schwarze, Vice-President for Academic Affairs at the University of Freiburg.

The Website www.südwissen.de, which has already gone live, serves as a model for the new statewide platform. The südwissen portal was created with a focus on the southern Baden region and brings together the continuing education offerings of seven universities. The Website is now being expanded to include offerings from other universities in Baden-Württemberg. The team is in close coordination with the universities on how to proceed.

The portal Hochschulweiterbildung@BW is designed to facilitate the search for suitable continuing education courses with the help of extensive filter options. Most of the offers are aimed at people with a university degree, although initial professional experience may also suffice. The courses are aimed not only at participants from the region, but also at interested parties from all over Germany and beyond. The project will also create regional and specialist networking offices. To this end, 22 offices will be set up throughout Baden-Württemberg that will be responsible for regions or thematic focal points. These offices will be in contact with universities and companies in the region and thus better able to respond to the different needs of both sides. In addition, the development of a quality seal is planned to promote academic continuing education. This is intended to establish common standards for continuing education offerings.

Press release from the Ministry of Science, Research and Art Baden-Württemberg (in German)