Digitalisation at universities: Global developments and their implications for universities in Germany

 

Subject

Not only digitalisation, but also the rapid developments in the field of AI pose major challenges for universities worldwide and are associated with far-reaching consequences for teaching, research and administration. In the area of tertiary learning and testing, the use of AI and immersive reality is enabling new teaching/learning scenarios that open up opportunities for interactive, personalised and authentic knowledge acquisition, thereby significantly increasing learning effectiveness and learning speed. A similar development is emerging in research through the use of AI-based tools in the areas of research, text creation and statistical programming. The use of AI in university administration and science management also promises not only to increase productivity and reduce costs, but also to have a positive impact on quality, at least in part. This project focuses on worldwide innovative developments at universities and in the EdTech sector in the field of digitalisation and AI that are forward-looking for universities in Germany. In addition to identifying use and best practice cases in teaching, research and administration at universities, the project is dedicated to the question of the extent to which these developments are also relevant for the German higher education sector.


Research questions

  • How are key digital technologies and AI used in research, teaching and administration? What empirical evidence on their effectiveness in teaching, research and administrative processes can be derived from these studies?
  • Which innovative examples worldwide serve as role models for universities in Germany for the use of key digital technologies and AI in research, teaching and administration?
  • How can universities in Germany respond appropriately to these global developments and what (legal) requirements must be met at German universities in order to integrate future technologies into their core tasks?
  • What digital infrastructure do universities in Bavaria need in order to keep up with the international leaders?


Author

Dr. Susanne Falk, Prof. Dr. Isabell Welpe