Target and performance agreements signed with the state of Thuringia

© Marcus Glahn

On the one hand, the ZLV regulate the general targets anchored in the framework agreement as well as the focus topics for the next few years: "Further digitisation is one of the core topics at all Thuringian universities. This ranges from digital teaching and more efficient work in research to digital administrative processes," explains Thuringia's Minister for Economics, Science and Digital Society, Wolfgang Tiefensee. "Ensuring high quality in research and teaching is an ongoing task. A particular focus here is on strengthening teacher training and the engineering sciences." Crucial for teaching, he said, is a sufficient number of academic specialists and reliable employment for university staff. In the area of research, the universities are strengthening their activities, for example, through participation in research funding programmes and third-party funded projects or targeted research priorities.

In addition, each university has set itself up to four specific strategic development goals within the framework of the ZLV, which contribute to the profile formation of each individual university: For example, the target projects of the University of Erfurt primarily include measures to improve competitiveness in research and the promotion of young academics. With regard to teaching, the high quality of teaching is to be ensured and digital teaching methods are to be further expanded. The university places a special focus on the teaching profession for primary school and special needs education: more teachers are to secure the training; in the areas of media education, German as a second language and teaching development, better preparation is to be made for future teaching in the digital world.