The report and seal of approval are now official: Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts has successfully completed the "Internationalization of Universities" re-audit process.
The experts had high praise for the university: the final report from the German Rectors' Conference (HRK) states that the university has succeeded in "making substantial progress in the area of internationalization and generating awareness and commitment for the associated aspects across the university". The university has driven forward its internationalization with commitment and has made good progress, particularly in recent years. Furthermore, "a very pleasing spirit of optimism with regard to internationalization" is noticeable.
Strategic relevance
Many points together make up the success. One of the most important is that the university has anchored the topic of internationalization in university development and dovetailed the objectives of the re-audit with those of the HEP focus topic(Opens in a new tab) . This reflects the growing awareness of the strategic relevance of internationalization.
Monitoring and benchmarking
To evaluate its own implementation success, the UAS introduced an internal monitoring system in the area of internationalization: almost 60 percent of the 27 individual measures were fully implemented in the last re-audit implementation semester. In addition, the university now uses strategic external benchmarking to make the implementation status of the "Focus Goal 2025" measurable and comparable.
Framework for decentralized implementation
Also important: the creation of a university-wide framework for decentralized implementation plans for all (subject) areas with their own priorities. This strengthens the overall institutional perspective, but at the same time takes into account the different subject cultures and degrees of development in internationalization. The new formats for networking and exchange, from which best practice collections and a toolbox for the internationalization of teaching have emerged, are also an enrichment.
Next steps
Vice-Rector Prof. Dr. Katrin Löhr is highly satisfied with the results of the re-audit. She would like to thank everyone who helped shape the process through their commitment. After the re-audit is before the HEP: "As the next steps, we will set our milestones until mid-2023. By then, we want to establish an internationalization pillar in the Institute for Higher Education Didactics(Opens in a new tab) Didactics(Opens in a new tab) and establish a Welcome Center in the Hochschulallianz Ruhr project, among other things."