On 6 April 2019, the universities of Bremen, Greifswald, Hamburg, Kiel, Lübeck, Lüneburg, Oldenburg, Rostock and Groningen celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Association of North German Universities.
When the Association of North German Universities (‘VNU’) was founded in 1994, its main objective was defined as the joint implementation of evaluation procedures for academic subjects. This was the response of the four (Bremen, Hamburg, Oldenburg, Rostock) and later five (Kiel) member universities from five federal states to the public calls for more transparency and quality control in studies and teaching that emerged in the early 1990s.
When designing and implementing the evaluation procedures, own standards and criteria were developed based on international experience in quality assurance, particularly in France, Great Britain and the Netherlands. At that time, evaluation, accreditation and quality assurance were still largely unknown in Germany and at most universities, as well as in the HRK.
Inspired by international experiences, particularly those in the Netherlands, the VNU piloted a multi-stage evaluation process (internal self-assessment, external peer review, follow-up) under the responsibility of the universities, the principles of which remain standard practice in evaluation and accreditation procedures to this day. These principles remain standard practice in evaluation and accreditation procedures to this day. However, a special feature of the evaluations in the VNU was that the evaluation results were not discussed under pressure to conform, but rather taking into account the diversity and specific characteristics of the participating universities in terms of their political framework conditions and degree programme profiles.
In 2008, the presidents and rectors agreed on a new strategic direction for their collaboration. As a result of mandatory programme accreditation, the VNU evaluation was suspended. Instead of evaluation procedures, project-based work became the focus, especially with regard to improving the quality of studies and teaching. As part of the project ‘Ensuring studyability through quality management in studies and teaching’ (2010–2014), an evaluation of the effectiveness of university-wide quality assurance procedures was carried out based on the criterion of the studyability of study programmes. The ‘NordAudit’ project has been carried out since 2015. Furthermore, since 2018, work has been ongoing to develop a joint procedure for mapping the study progress of student cohorts using administrative data in order to arrive at comparable key performance indicator systems.
Currently, the VNU is once again developing into a higher education policy network that enables the exchange of information on current issues in higher education policy and the development of joint positions and statements. In addition to promoting the quality of studies and teaching, the association is also focusing on cooperation in research. Since 2014, the respective research departments have been encouraging close exchange between research initiatives in order to utilise synergy effects and strengthen Northern Germany as a location for study and research through a joint research network. With its new ‘Impulse Research’ format, the VNU promotes the initiation, consolidation and expansion of research cooperation between its member universities.
The main objectives of cooperation today are:
- Improving study and teaching at member universities
- Developing quality cultures at each university
- Pooling expertise in the area of quality assurance and development and creating synergies that advance the quality debate in a national context
- Establishing a joint discussion forum on current developments and perspectives in higher education policy in a cross-state context
- Initiating a discussion process on upcoming challenges in higher education at the national level and beyond, with the involvement of the associated partner university in Groningen
- Building a supraregional research network and intensifying the exchange of research initiatives
A story of success is celebrating its birthday: 25 years of the Association of North German Universities.
