First teaching awards from Nordhausen University: Excellent teaching recognized!

First teaching awards from Nordhausen University: Excellent teaching recognized!

On July 8, 2025, the time had finally come: Nordhausen University awarded its teaching prizes for the first time. This took place in a ceremonial setting and is an important step towards recognizing outstanding achievements in teaching. The aim of the award is to highlight excellent teaching and exceptional commitment idw online reported.

The selection of the award winners was based on the results of the course evaluations from the 2024/2025 academic year. This shows the importance that universities now attach to quality assurance in teaching. The students were able to contribute to their appreciation through positive feedback, which in turn formed the basis for the awarding of the prizes.

Award winners in the spotlight

The coveted awards went to:

• Dr. Kareen Schlangen und Kirsten Lamschus aus dem Fachbereich Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, die sich den Preis teilen
• Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus-Peter Neitzke von den Ingenieurwissenschaften
• Katrin-Josephine Wagner vom Sprachenzentrum

In addition, the winners received a certificate, prize money and an individual e-badge, which should further increase the visibility of their achievements. University President Prof. Dr. In his speech, Jörg Wagner emphasized the importance of visibility and support for excellent teaching for the university.

The university plans to award this teaching award every three semesters in the future, thereby sending a clear signal for the quality of teaching.

Background on teaching awards

The discussion about the awarding of teaching prizes is not new and is also receiving attention in other parts of the German-speaking world. In the “Recommendations of the Austrian University Conference for improving the quality of teaching” from 2014, the introduction is made as a recommendation in order to value teaching and promote quality development phlu.ch notes.

Teaching awards have become established in many universities, although awarding practices vary. Some universities fully integrate students into the selection process, while others only involve them in an advisory capacity. These differences show that the higher education landscape is dynamic and adapts to the needs of students and teachers.

The development of teaching quality

The importance of teaching quality has been brought more and more to the fore in recent years through various guidelines and initiatives. The Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs passed a resolution in 2005 to ensure the quality of teaching, which recommended the introduction of various measures, such as a designed study structure and accreditations. In this multitude of measures, evaluations such as those carried out by computer-supported course evaluations can also be found bildungsserver.de describes.

All of these efforts ultimately show the goal of further developing teaching at universities and rewarding the best teachers so that high quality teaching remains highly valued in the future. The initiative of the Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences is consistently pursuing this path, and it remains exciting to see how the reputation of the teaching awards continues to strengthen in the academic landscape.