Stifterverband will award a prize for excellence in university teaching in 2017 for the first time
23 March 2017
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) is one of just three German universities nominated for Stifterverband's Genius Loci Award for Excellence in Teaching. The purpose of this new award is to confer a distinction on a university and a university of applied sciences that have set an example with their focus on teaching, employ an institutional teaching strategy, and open the field of teaching for innovation and experimentation. The prize is worth EUR 10,000 and is to be used by the institutions to invite a Visiting Scholar of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.
"The nomination for the Genius Loci Award is an acknowledgment of our strategic approach to improving the quality of teaching and learning conditions at Mainz University, an aspect that we have already defined in the university's Mission Statement and support as a university-wide endeavor in our everyday activities," emphasized Professor Georg Krausch, President of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. "The university's Teaching Strategy was approved by the JGU Senate in 2010 and is supplemented by our Aspects of Good Teaching program. Also in 2010, Mainz University installed the Gutenberg Teaching Council, which is a panel of teaching experts who aim at the continued development of teaching, the ongoing improvement of individual teaching skills, and the implementation of new teaching ideas," continued Krausch.
Starting in 2017, Stifterverband will nominate three universities and three universities of applied sciences for the Genius Loci Award each year. In addition to Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, this year’s other nominees are RWTH Aachen University, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Coburg University of Applied Sciences and Arts, SRH University Heidelberg, and TH Köln University of Applied Sciences. Each of the six nominees will now provide a written report on how and in what fields their respective teaching strategies are being implemented as part of their everyday university life. The jury consisting of academics and representatives of higher education policy together with students will then select one winner each from the universities and the universities of applied sciences. The jury will make its decision in the second half of 2017.