Individualisation in Higher Education. Inspiration from European University Alliances
HDS.Forum 2025On October 23rd and 24th, 2025, Hochschuldidaktik Sachsen (HDS) in collaboration with the Technical University of Chemnitz (TUC) and the alliance ACROSS: European Cross-Border University hosts the HDS.Forum 2025.
The forum will focus on the question: How does higher education teaching benefit from European university alliances? European university alliances such as ACROSS are driving internationalisation, digitalisation and innovation in teaching. But what are the specific benefits for teachers and students? How can cross-border cooperation sustainably improve university teaching?
The HDS.forum 2025 offers space for exchange, inspiration and best practices. The focus will be on new didactic concepts, innovative examination formats, hybrid mobility models and the role of universities as social actors. Renowned experts and practitioners will show how European cooperation is transforming teaching - in a practical, future-orientated and interactive way.
Join us and help shape the future of university teaching!
Location: TU Chemnitz/Campus Reichenhainer Straße: Reichenhainer Strasse 70, 09126 Chemnitz
There is no conference fee. Only participants who want to join the Conference Gathering need to transfer 35 EUR in advance.
If you have any questions regarding the conference, please contact Mrs. Claudia Illmer.
Program
Last update: 16 Oct 2025 14:00Educational Consultants for and Developers in Higher Education in Teaching and Learning as well as Third Space Personell across Europe are invited to join a small preconference (max. 12 participants) focusing on the Scholarship of Academic Develompent (SoAD), international exchange, and the development of joint projects (e.g. publications, workshops). Participation is free of charge; accommodation and meals are at the participants’ own expense. Erasmus+ funding may be possible.
Arrival and informal gathering on October 20th evening; working sessions on October 21st and 22nd.
| TIME | SESSION | TEASER |
|---|---|---|
| Mon, 20 October 2025, 5 pm | Welcome & Gathering | |
| Tue, 21 October 2025 | Diving into the Scholarship of Academic Development (SoAD) in Europe: what, why, where and how? | Develop scientific questions for your SoAD-project |
| Wed, 22 October 2025, until 6 pm | Develop a study design for your SoAD-project | In-Depth Counselling for your SoAD-project Community-building |
| TIME | SESSION | LOCATION | TEASER |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12.00 – 12.50 pm | Arrival & registration | Weinholdbau Corridor in front of C25.059 | |
| 1.00 – 2.15 pm | Welcome & Keynote: Across Difference: Intercultural Teaching & Learning (Anna Santucci) | Central lecture hall and seminar building, C10, Room 113 | What role does intercultural competence play in our teaching practice as inclusive educators across the disciplines? How do cultural awareness and critical engagement with difference intersect with our ability to design and facilitate equitable, transparently aligned learning- centered experiences that foster our students’ growth mindset, purpose, agency, and sense of belonging and mattering? This keynote will explore the meaning of individualization in the context of these key questions, exploring how intercultural skills relate to our ability to design and facilitate inclusive higher education environments. |
| 2.30 – 4.00 pm | Cooperation in teaching: HD Support (Ulrike Rada, Moderation: Antonella Ruggieri) Stefanie Troppmann, Tamara Pribišev Beleslin, Ljubiša Mićić | C25.044 | Teachers in focus: guidance, advice and support for cooperative teaching: How can cooperation in teaching succeed - and how can teachers be effectively supported? In this slot, actors from university didactics will present successful concepts, advisory formats and support structures that strengthen teachers in the development and implementation of cooperative teaching projects. The focus is on practical insights into higher education didactics support services, strategic partnerships and experiences from working with lecturers - for more quality, sustainability and exchange. |
| Connected Communities | Open Exchange on Best & Worst Practices in International Teaching and Learning (Kristin Klein, Moderation: Josefine Marquardt) | C25.021 | How can international collaboration in European university alliances truly enrich teaching and learning in higher education? This workshop introduces the concept of “Connected Communities”– dynamic, cross-university teaching and learning formats within the EUTOPIA alliance where researchers, educators, and students work together on shared topics, using common resources and collaborative practices. These flexible formats aim to spark innovative educational ideas, foster mutual learning and/or researching and place student engagement at the centre. Following a short introduction and hands-on examples of existing Connected Communities at TU Dresden, participants will dive into an open exchange: What makes international teaching/learning formats genuinely valuable – and what doesn’t? Together, we’ll reflect on and discuss these key questions:
| |
| Truth & Power: Equality, Equity, and/or Justice? (Anna Santucci) | C25.065 | This workshop is an opportunity to connect with like-minded colleagues in interdisciplinary dialogue to explore the concepts of equity, diversity, and justice in our educational contexts, and collaboratively interrogate power dynamics within academia; participants will have an opportunity to reflect on their own practice and spheres of influence, and share practical ideas and approaches for fostering meaningful change. | |
| Student participation / EUA Learning & Teaching Thematic Peer Group on “Learning and teaching to empower students (Stephen Rutherford, Connie Pritchard, Helene Peterbauer and Nigel Francis; Moderation: Claudia Bade) | C25.040 | This workshop will focus around the outputs of a recent European University Association Thematic Peer Group (TPG) report on learning activities to empower students as active agents and partners in learning. The workshop will be led by the two co-leads of the group, and will share some of the findings of the TPG. In particular the workshop will discuss ways in which we can refine our teaching approaches to include students, and prepare them to be global citizens and agents of change - both during their courses and after graduation. Workshop participants will work collaboratively to identify ways in which they can reshape courses and teaching activities to engage students as partners and support the development of transferrable skills that will be of benefit post-graduation. | |
| 4.00 – 4.30 pm | Exchange & Energize Break | ||
| 4.30 - 6.00 pm | Joint Study Programmes – From Exception to Standard? (Stephan Kaschner, Ulrike Krawagna, Mandi Strambowski, Moderation: Konstanze Klemm) | C25.021 | Studying together, shaping academic pathways together: Joint Study Programmes are a contemporary model for international higher education, responding to the growing demand for cross-border academic collaboration and globally educated graduates. Yet, the number of such programmes remains comparatively low. Why is it that, despite their potential, Joint Study Programmes are still the exception rather than the rule? What obstacles do stakeholders encounter when implementing such programmes in practice? Is there a need for a new approach to collaboration, or innovative recognition procedures? To begin, a representative of the ArQus Joint Master programme “European Studies” will present it as a good practice example. In addition, two students will share their experiences and the added value of this transnational programme. Afterwards, we will discuss together how to turn Joint Programmes from an exception into the norm. Two colleagues from the ArQus University Alliance will provide insights into their practical experiences in developing joint study programmes, highlight challenges and success factors – and invite you to join in the search for solutions. The aim is to consolidate the obstacles explored during the workshop in a follow-up process, enabling consortia of university alliances to develop and implement institutional solutions that structurally support Joint Programmes. |
| Campus Community Partnership (Service Learning) (Isabelle van der Bom, Maj-Britt Krone, Moderation: Stefanie Troppmann) | C25.065 | Campus meets community: learning through engagement - service learning as a bridge between university and society: How can teaching promote social responsibility and inspire students to actively participate? This session will focus on teaching formats that combinesacademic learning with social engagement. Lecturers and partners from practice and civil society will show how service learning contributes to joint problem-solving, motivates students and creates sustainable cooperation between the university and the community. This is how teaching can have an impact beyond the campus. Best practise: As part of the “Project Management” course in the English Studies degree programme, and with support from the Service Learning initiative at Chemnitz University of Technology, a tandem language learning project was developed for the volunteers of Chemnitz European Capital of Culture 2025. Tandem learning is a method in which two people interested in each other's language work together in a relaxed setting, supporting each other's learning. In this project, predominantly international English Studies students were paired with German-speaking volunteers from Chemnitz 2025 to help improve their English skills and prepare them to welcome international visitors during the Capital of Culture year. Through workshops, regular tandem meetings, and interactive activities, the project fostered both language development and intercultural exchange in ways beyond expectation. Following overwhelmingly positive feedback, the tandem programme has now been run three times and is expected to continue and expand in the future. | |
| Rethinking mobility - opportunities and integration in teaching as part of the European University Alliance Across (Cecile Sandten, Rim Barioul, Moderation: Benny Liebold) Luke Palmer | C25.044 | International mobility is a central element of European university cooperation – especially within European university alliances such as Across. In order to shape mobility in a future- oriented way, central topics such as inclusion, sustainability, digital supplements (blended mobility) and the recognition of achievements must be given greater focus. In this session, we will discuss how physical, virtual and hybrid mobility formats can be meaningfully interlinked. A particular focus will be on the question of how mobility experiences can be embedded not only as a personal added value, but also as an integral part of curricular structures – for example through joint courses, transnational project work or digitally supported learning spaces. The aim is to further develop mobility as a form of learning and thus contribute to the quality and attractiveness of European higher education. | |
| Students and teachers in discourse: How can individualization succeed in university teaching? (Teachers and students on the podium, Moderation: Susan Lippman) | C25.040 | Students and lecturers in dialog: Shaping individualization in university teaching - with the support of university didactics: Individualized teaching promises a better fit between learning opportunities and the needs of heterogeneous student groups – but also presents lecturerswith new challenges. In this session, students and lecturers will discuss together how individual learning paths can be meaningfully supported. Particular attention will be paid to the role of university didactic advice: What impulses, formats and structures are needed to implement individualization in a practical and sustainable way? | |
| 6.30 – 7.30 pm | City Tour Chemnitz European capital of cultural (Eric Langer) Meetingpoint Entrance Weinholdbau 6.00 pm | ||
| OPENING 7.00 pm | Conference Gathering open to registered participants with completed payment (see e-mail for details) | ||
| TIME | SESSION | LOCATION | TEASER |
|---|---|---|---|
| OPENING 9.00 am | Gallery Walk: Focus on teaching - alliances introduce themselves (Moderation: Claudia Bade, Robert Kordts (Uni Bergen)) | C25.059 | Gallery Walk: University alliances in focus - Teaching. Learning. Shaping together. At the HDS.Forum 2025 we invite you to a gallery walk in which university alliances from Saxony and their international partners will present their projects, ideas and cooperations in the field of teaching and teaching development. Discover innovative models of cooperation, talk to committed lecturers and cooperation partners and be inspired by successful examples of joint teaching formats and strategies. The Gallery Walk offers space for exchange, networking and new impulses. |
| 9.45 – 10.00 am | Exchange & energize break | ||
| 10.00 – 10.45 am | Micro-Credentials – A Structured Path to Flexible Learning (Andrea Brose, Moderation: Michael Sommer) | C25.021 | Micro-credentials are widely seen as a key instrument for enabling flexible and individualized learning pathways. In this session, we will take a critical look at the current state of development, practical applications, and challenges related to the implementation of micro-credentials across Europe. We will explore how standardized, digitally supported learning credentials can foster lifelong learning—and what is needed to ensure their recognition and impact. Building on ECIU University’s leading role in developing micro-credentials within the Erasmus+ European Universities initiative, the workshop will also reflect on how micro-credentials and FLP approaches can contribute to shaping the future European Degree. While not based on joint degrees—the current core element of the European Degree label—FLP and micro-credential strategies can offer complementary models that help advance the goals of transnational European education by supporting learner mobility, modular recognition, and competence-driven qualification pathways. |
| Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) at the Faculty of Education and Psychology at University of Girona (Miquel Alsina Tarrés, Moderation: Ulrike Rada) | C25.017 | In recent years, a Teaching Innovation Group has been established within our faculty, bringing together lecturers from various undergraduate programs offered at the center who are interested in the CBL methodology. This talk will present the main features of this pedagogical approach and provide examples of how it has been adapted and implemented in different courses, along with the outcomes observed. | |
| Digital learning environments (Daniel Pietschmann, Fabian Taubert, Moderation: Andreas Kasperski) | C25.065 | In order to enable cross-university collaboration in which joint teaching, learning, research and transfer can be realized, a sustainable digital learning and working environment is required. This shared digital environment should primarily contribute to communication, collaboration and co-creation for teaching, research and continuing education and, last but not least, meet high data protection standards. How the various requirements are realized in different learning and working environments is presented using the platform of the Across university alliance, a cross-university course management system and the establishment of a cross-university learning platform. A variety of questions regarding realization, challenges and parallels between the environments will be discussed in this session. Use of digital learning environment. | |
| 10.45 – 10.50 am | Relocation break | ||
| 10.50 – 11.30 am | Didactic guidelines - joint development (Moderation: Anita Sekyra) | C25.040 | Higher education didactics in dialog: What we can learn from each other: How do university alliances design their higher education didactic guidelines - and what can be taken away from them for your own university? In this format, representatives from different universities will present their higher education didactics concepts, recommendations and development strategies in short pitches. The focus is on the exchange of common values, concrete implementations and the question: Which approaches deserve to be adopted or further developed? A moderated fishbowl discussion will then invite participants to explore ideas in greater depth and gather ideas for the further development of higher education didactic standards in alliances. |
| 11.30 am – 12.30 pm | Lunch & end of the HDS.Forum 2025 | Corridor C25.059 | |
Registration
Online registration for in presence participation at the HDS.Forum is now closed. Subject to availability, on-site registration will be possible at the registration desk.
Online participation
The following sessions can be joined online (there is no prior registration necessary):
Keynote by Anna Santucci (University of Virginia): "Across Difference: Intercultural Teaching & Learning"
Thursday, 23 October 2025 | 1:00 – 2:15 PM (CET)
You can join the session via: mytuc.org/vbcy
Session: "Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) at the Faculty of Education and Psychology at University of Girona"
Friday, 24 October 2025 | 10:00 – 10:45 AM (CET)
You can join the session via: mytuc.org/vbcy
Session: "Micro-Credentials – A Structured Path to Flexible Learning (Andrea Brose)"
Friday, 24 October 2025 | 10:00 – 10:45 AM (CET)
You can join the session via: mytuc.org/xdpn