"What does it mean to be a model university?"

Date:

Thursday, 23.04.2026

1 - 5 p.m.

Summary of the event:

What constitutes good teaching - today and in the future? And what does it actually mean to be a model university?
The Teaching Day 2026 at Witten/Herdecke University is dedicated to these questions. Teachers, students and interested parties are invited to come together to discuss the standards, practice and further development of teaching.
The program includes the presentation of the Teaching Award for Innovative and Outstanding Teaching 2026 and the ESD Teaching Awards 2026, a panel discussion and a barcamp on the day's theme.

Daily schedule:

What makes Witten/Herdecke University a model university? What ideas of good teaching support us - and where do tensions, open questions or new perspectives emerge?
The Teaching Day 2026 invites teaching staff, students and interested parties to explore these questions together and to understand teaching as a shared creative space.

The event will take place on Thursday, April 23, 2026, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and combines celebratory moments with exchange, discussion and participation.

After the welcome address, the awards ceremony for the Teaching Prize for Innovative and Outstanding Teaching 2026 and the ESD Teaching Prizes 2026 will kick off the event. Teaching projects by students will be nominated for the Teaching Award for Innovative and Outstanding Teaching, with which teachers break new ground and rethink teaching at UW/H. TheESD Teaching Awards go to innovative teaching projects that specifically anchor Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in university teaching.

This will be followed by a moderated discussion forum on the key question of the day. Representatives from the Faculty of Business, Economics and Society, the Faculty of Health and the WittenLab will enter into a discussion with each other - not as a classic panel discussion, but as a dialogical format that makes different perspectives visible and deliberately opens up space for questions, reactions and contributions from the audience. Students and lecturers are invited to get actively involved and join in the discussion.

In the second part of the afternoon, the space will open up for a barcamp. In this open format, the participants design the program themselves: They can contribute their own questions, experiences or ideas relating to teaching and the model university and discuss them in small groups. The barcamp thrives on exchange at eye level - without prepared presentations, but with plenty of room for joint reflection, different perspectives and new ideas.

At the end, key impressions and thoughts from the day are brought together: What will we take away? What questions remain unanswered? And what ideas could further shape teaching at UW/H?

Snacks and drinks will be available in the foyer throughout the event, inviting informal discussions between the program points.

The Teaching Day 2026 is an invitation: to listen, to have a say and to think about teaching at UW/H together.

You can use this link to register for the Apprenticeship Day and cancel your registration if required:

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