University Agreement 2023–2027

Expansion of innovative teaching formats

• The teaching mission statement was developed through a participatory process. It serves as a shared understanding of how HM intends to shape ‘good teaching’.

• The NEO.Hub was set up as a hub for student involvement at HM. Here, students can share their ideas for the campus of the future.

• Through its Competence Centre for Digital Assessment (KDP) and its Forschungs- & Innovationslabor Digitale Lehre (FIDL) (research and innovation lab for digital education), HM is making a cross-institutional contribution to the digitalisation of teaching and assessment in Bavaria, particularly in the field of AI.

Expansion of advanced and skills development programmes in the context of lifelong learning

• Since the 2023/2024 winter semester, Prof. Dr Silke Järvenpää and Prof. Dr Markus Witzmann, as academic directors of the Centre for Continuing Education, have been working to refine the profile and strategic direction of academic continuing education at HM.

• As part of the relaunch of the HM umbrella brand, the positioning of the continuing education programme has been successfully achieved through a standalone, multimedia presence featuring a key visual that helps to establish brand identity.

• In 2025, HM will take part in the Stifterverband’s continuing education audit. One of the aims of the audit is to define the strategic direction and refine the profile of continuing education at HM, taking into account existing structures and processes.

• The statutes governing the award of academic microcredentials at HM were adopted in May 2024.

• New university certificates have been introduced at HM, such as the advanced professional development certificates in ‘Fundamentals of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)’ , ‘Leadership, Strategy and Innovation’ and ‘AI Skills for Practice’.

Building on the success of the research

• External funding was increased significantly, by 58%, following the appointment of research professors, reaching a total of €19,629,000 in 2024 (compared with the average for 2017–2021: €12,608,000).

• Together with Nuremberg Tech and Regensburg University of Applied Sciences, HM has established seven doctoral centres , three of which are based at HM (see also section 4).

• In July 2025, the StMWK also approved the stand-alone Doctoral Research Center for Integrated Mobility (PRIM) . This means that HM now has the most Doctoral Research Centers in Bavaria and the widest range of disciplines with the right to award doctorates (see also section 4).

• To manage PhD processes, HM has introduced the docDaten PhD student management system (see also the implementation of the Bay.FIS research information system in section 7).

• Through its ‘Academia Insights’ series, the Graduate School highlights issues relating to higher education policy and the challenges faced by early-career researchers (see also section 3).

Further strengthening of the institution’s reputation in research

• The institution’s research reputation has grown, with the number of publications rising to 1,028 between 2022 and 2024.

Expansion of start-up activities

• The number of start-ups has increased – most recently to 44 in 2024 (regional and international; for comparison, the average for 2017–2022 was 29).

Expansion of science communication

• The Science Communication Strategy was published in January 2025; see also: Communicating Science at HM – News – Hochschule München and Applause for Science Communication – News – Hochschule München.

Strengthening the transfers

• Preparations for the establishment of a service unit for Cooperation and Transfer have been completed. The organisational unit is expected to be set up in autumn 2025.

• Initial schemes for the systematic maintenance of dual partnership relationships were launched with three departments. As of June 2025, 650 companies and organisations had signed a cooperation agreement with HM.

• A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system has been successfully implemented and, as of June 2025, rolled out across ten organisational units.

• HM:UniverCity is constantly expanding its range of co-creative knowledge transfer formats and is working on innovative projects such as Creating NEBourhoods Together, the Transformation Lab and Transferre. In doing so, it is specifically strengthening relationships with partners within the higher education network and promoting joint innovation processes in a sustainable manner.

• Through its ‘Academia Insights’ series, the Graduate School highlights issues relating to higher education policy and the challenges faced by early-career researchers.

• A cross-faculty campaign involving professors and PhD students has been successfully launched, presenting applied knowledge and research findings from the HM on the topics of sustainability, digitalisation, health and society in a brief, concise and accessible manner.

Expansion of staff recruitment and staff development

• A management programme has been developed at HM. The individual modules will take place between January 2025 and June 2026 and will be evaluated afterwards.

• HM has developed an employer brand to raise its profile as an attractive employer. Building on this, HM’s careerspage has been completely revamped and now features a new structure and design, as well as showcasing representative testimonials.

• The Gil&Toni virtual awareness and information platform has been online since the end of March 2025; see also Gil&Toni – News – Hochschule München.

Support for young talent and gifted individuals

• Together with Nuremberg Tech and Regensburg University of Applied Sciences, HM has established seven doctoral centres , three of which are based at HM.

• In July 2025, the StMWK also approved the dedicated Doctoral Research Center for Integrated Mobility (PRIM) . This means that HM now has the most Doctoral Research Centers in Bavaria and the widest range of disciplines with the right to award doctorates.

• Since the 2018 summer semester, Hochschule München has been supplementing the offerings of traditional organisations for the promotion of gifted and talented students with its own support programme for gifted and talented students called “TalentE³”. As of June 2025, a total of 300 students have completed the TalentE³ programme; see also “Kick-off for the talents of tomorrow” – News – Hochschule München.

At HM, equality is treated as a key cross-cutting issue and an integral part of all areas of activity (see, for example, section 4).

Improving participation

• The agreed quota for people with severe disabilities is being met and stood at 4.43% in 2024.

At HM, internationalisation is treated as a key cross-cutting issue and an integral part of all areas of activity (see, for example, sections 7 and 8).

Strengthening international exchange

• As part of the HRK re-audit (2017–2020), the existing internationalisation strategy was reviewed and a structured process was initiated to develop a new strategy. This led to the publication in 2023 of the new, third internationalisation strategy, which is firmly embedded as a cross-cutting theme in the University Development Plan (HEP). Measures for internationalisation are systematically integrated into the various areas of action of the HEP and strengthen the university’s international focus in the long term.

Strengthening cooperation amongst ourselves and with other research, arts and educational institutions

There is regular exchange and collaboration within networks and strategic partnerships, for example:

• At a regional level, HM is involved in a wide range of Bavaria-wide networks: in the field of teaching, for example, in BayZiel, FIDL, KDP and vhb (institutions for teaching), as well as within the framework of Hochschule Bayern for the development of Bavaria-wide recommendations on the use of artificial intelligence in higher education teaching; in the field of research, for example, in the establishment of doctoral centres with Nuremberg Tech and Regensburg University of Applied Sciences (see Section 4); in the field of administration, for example, in the Digital Network Bavaria and in the introduction of the software for studies PRIMUSS, SAP as a financial management system and the research information system Bay.FIS; in the area of transfers, e.g. as a co-operator of the Social Entrepreneurship Academy and, together with the affiliated institute SCE, as a co-partner of the Munich Innovation Ecosystem; and in the area of sustainability at the Zentrum Hochschule und Nachhaltigkeit Bayern (Bavarian Centre for Higher Education and Sustainability).

• At national level, HM is a member of numerous networks: for example, UAS7, an alliance of seven leading research-oriented Universities of Applied Sciences, with active participation in events such as the annual conference on ‘Universityof Applied Sciences Human Resources’ in September 2024; and, in the field of transfers, as the host university for the think tank ‘Hochschulen und Entrepreneurship e.V.’

• Internationally, HM forms part of the INUAS university network alongside the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) and FH Campus Wien; for example, at the INUAS COIL Days in July 2024, they discussed opportunities for digital collaboration among students; in the field of teaching, HM is a member of Global E3, a consortium of 65 leading engineering universities worldwide; In the field of transfers, HM and its affiliated institute SCE are founding members and shareholders of the Start for Future (SFF) Cooperative.

Digitalisation as a guiding principle in teaching, research and administration

• A Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) has been appointed at HM.

• The use of the inter-university IT services (HITS) has been established.

Building a resilient IT infrastructure

• The roll-out of multi-factor authentication has been completed across the university.

Establishment of a research data management system

• The number of ORCID records is rising steadily and stood at 420 as of July 2025. The number of ORCID records for which HM is listed as the trusted organisation is also increasing and, at 142 as of July 2025, has already reached the target.

Developments in the field of digital testing

• As part of the Digital Assessment Competence Centre for Bavarian universities of applied sciences, HM is involved in the further development of technical and conceptual assessment solutions, such as the Mahara Cloud and the integration of AI into EXaHM assessment configurations.

Infrastructure and services for digital internationalisation processes and projects

• Formcycle processes have been mapped out and implemented, e.g. processes for new partnerships.

• In mobility management, 33 Moveon process automations were implemented.

• As part of the European Student Card Initiative, the European Student Identifier was introduced in accordance with EU regulations.

Sustainability across all areas of performance

• The institution-wide sustainability strategy was published in spring 2023 as part of HM’s University Development Plan (from p. 64).

Carbon neutrality

• A university-wide climate protection plan has been drawn up and sent to the project sponsor. This includes a GHG inventory for the entire university. A comprehensive GHG inventory for the Pasing Campus was compiled in autumn 2023 as part of the ÖKOPROFIT certification process.

Establishment of support structures for the development and implementation of signature sustainability initiatives

• Since 2023, the sustainability management team at Hochschule München (HM) has been coordinating sustainability activities at the university. In addition, the university employs a Climate Protection Manager and an Energy and Environment Manager. A ‘Sustainability Round Table’ has been established as a regular forum for the exchange of information across all areas of activity. See also the HM magazine ‘Applying Science 01/2023’, p. 16 ff.

• Structures for implementing ÖKOPROFIT were established at the Pasing Campus. The ÖKOPROFIT certification was awarded in November.

Strengthening Bildung für Nachhaltige Entwicklung (Education for Sustainable Development), ensuring that Bildung für Nachhaltige Entwicklung is firmly embedded in the range of courses on offer, and promoting student participation

• Through its Teaching Innovation Grant Scheme, HM supports teaching innovations in the field of Bildung für Nachhaltige Entwicklung (Education for Sustainable Development).

• A range of courses on Bildung für Nachhaltige Entwicklung (Education for Sustainable Development) have already been introduced, including the seminar ‘Shaping International Climate Protection – The Role of HM at UN Climate Change Conferences’, the university certificate programme ‘Sustainable Thinking, Responsible Action’, the open lecture series ‘HM Lectures for Future’, and the Johannes B. Ortner Academy for Sustainability and Transformation.

• Since 2023, the HM Studentisches Green Office (a student-led sustainability office) has been working to support and incorporate student perspectives and initiatives (e.g. organising the annual Public Climate School).

Holistic quality management at HM

• The assessment of the current situation in the area of quality management within the administration has been completed. A quality management system is currently being developed for the administration.

• Hochschule München has adopted guidelines for the evaluation of research institutes and is already putting them into practice.

• The HM’s statutes on ensuring good scientific practice and dealing with suspected cases of scientific misconduct have been thoroughly revised in line with current standards and were adopted by the senate in July 2023.