Teaching at the Professorship

“Complex problems are characterized by the fact that sometimes contradictory answers can both be correct. No school teaches you how to deal with that. It is based on the courage to question your own truths – and always to ask: What if the opposite were true?” (Dirk von Gehlen)

“Anyone who believes they have no choice lacks imagination.” (Picard in Star Trek: Picard)

Education for Sustainable Development

The Professorship actively integrates Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into research and teaching.

Sustainability-oriented skills concern action in higher education, education, professional life, society, private life, business and government. That is why we deliberately develop sustainability competencies in research and teaching.

The Professorship actively promotes the United Nations (UN)-supported initiative Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). Its seven principles are Purpose, Values, Teach, Research, Partner, Practice and Share.

Key competencies for sustainability

• Systems thinking competency: The ability to recognize and understand relationships, analyze complex systems, and deal with uncertainty.
• Anticipatory competency: The ability to evaluate different future scenarios, develop one’s own visions, and assess risks.
• Normative competency: The ability to reflect on norms and values and to negotiate sustainability goals in conflict situations.
• Strategic competency: The ability to develop and implement innovative sustainability strategies.
• Collaboration competency: The ability to learn from others, show empathy, and facilitate group processes.
• Critical thinking competency: The ability to critically question norms and opinions and to reflect on one’s own values and actions.
• Self-awareness competency: The ability to reflect on one’s own role in society and to act in a self-motivated manner.
• Integrated problem-solving competency: The ability to combine different approaches to solving complex sustainability problems.

Source: UNESCO, Education for Sustainable Development Goals: Learning Objectives (PDF)

We have summarized these ESD competencies and suitable methods in a competency guide (PDF, in German). It offers ideas on how to integrate the competencies into teaching.

A discussion paper also shows how an ESD Competence Radar can be used to systematically develop sustainability-related competencies in higher education teaching. The instrument relies on dialogue and reflection.

Thinking in Scenarios

How will the corporate world in Germany change over the next two decades? Unternehmen 2040 describes four scenarios.

• BENCHMARK
• BRICOLAGE
• B.I.G. TECH
• GEO-ECONOMICS

They show how differently the framework conditions for corporate action may develop.

Project NACHTIGALL receives Hochschulperle award

The Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft e. V. honored TU Chemnitz and Mittweida University of Applied Sciences for the project NACHTIGALL with the “Hochschulperle of the Month for November 2019”.