Science and career-oriented skills in teaching (WiBeKo)

Between the winter semesters 2015/16 and 2019/20, the project “Science and career-oriented skills in teaching” (WiBeKo) was carried out by the University Didactics Department in cooperation with the Methods Center of the Faculty of Social Sciences. The aim of the project was to identify and strengthen opportunities for the development of academic and career-relevant skills during studies.

The project was based on a study carried out by the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Institute for Regional Research between October 2011 and November 2014. In this study, potential employers throughout Germany were asked about their skills requirements for university graduates in the social sciences.


The WiBeKo project comprised the following four areas of work:

1. Intensive support and implementation of teaching projects1.Intensive support and implementation of teaching projects

Teaching projects from different departments and faculties are given intensive advisory support with a particular focus on academic and practice-oriented skills. To this end, competence-oriented learning objectives are identified together with the lecturers and the courses are developed accordingly in terms of methodology and didactics and (if desired) observed.
The project also includes teaching projects that focus on interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity. In these, students from different subject areas will carry out simulation games that can only be worked on in interdisciplinary teams and have an application focus.

2. Further development and new edition of the “Competence-oriented teaching and learning” guidelines2. Further development and new edition of the “Competence-oriented teaching and learning” guidelines

The experiences with competence-promoting teaching arrangements supplement the existing guidelines from the previous measure. This will also be expanded and republished with additional practical examples, information on simulation games and additions to the didactic approach in seminars as well as suitable forms of examination.

3. Development and implementation of university didactic workshops on the topic of “competence-oriented teaching and learning”3. Development and implementation of university didactic workshops on the topic of “competence-oriented teaching and learning”

As part of the project, a higher education didactics workshop is being developed in which lecturers from all faculties can review and revise their courses with a view to developing academic and professionally relevant skills.

4. Implementation of a series of workshops on the further development of competence orientation in curricula and module plans4. Implementation of a series of workshops on the further development of competence orientation in curricula and module plans

Together with lecturers, module coordinators and students, “module workshops” will be held to identify structural obstacles to the development of academic and practical skills. The results can be used to change the module structure of exemplary degree programs, individual module content and examination modalities in such a way that the development of these skills is promoted.

These programs were successfully completed by:



Sascha Kesseler