Lehre aus Studierendenhand

Die Qualitätssicherungsmittel an der Universität Heidelberg

Abstract

QSM stands for “Qualitätssicherungsmittlel” (quality assurance funds – special means for improving studying and teaching) or, from 2015, “Qualitätssicherungsnachfolgemittel” (quality assurance follow-up-funds), which are provided to students at universities in Ba-den-Württemberg by the state of Baden-Württemberg since 2012 to actively improve teaching and studies. The following article looks at how students at Heidelberg University are using the QSM to improve teaching. It will be shown that the QSM are not only addi-tional funds to expand the range of courses on offer, but above all represent an opportuni-ty for students to take responsibility and continuously innovate teaching together with lec-turers, taking into account student needs and current social challenges. On the one hand, we will look at how this became possible historically and how it is implemented organiza-tionally. On the other hand, three examples are used to show how this can look in concrete terms and what types of influence there are. Finally, the difficulties that can arise when making decisions on the QSM and the challenges that this poses for students lead to a classification and an outlook against the background of the upcoming negotiations on uni-versity funding in Baden-Württemberg.