The first of October 2024, Germany’s first fully digital university will launch its initial MBA and Master’s degree programs as well as Open Courses and Micro-Degree Programs to train training professionals for the digital transformation worldwide. This is the vision of computer science professors Mike Friedrichsen and Christoph Meinel. The initiators of the innovative digital university concept expect approval as a state-recognized university in the first quarter of 2025. The private and non-profit “German University of Digital Science” (German UDS) is based in the media city of Babelsberg in Potsdam, where the headquarters and the so-called “Maschinenhaus”, hosting the servers for teaching operations, are located.
German UDS – Germany’s First Globally Operating Digital University
Why does the German UDS call itself the first fully digital university? Since the COVID-19 pandemic at the latest, online lectures have become common practice for students and lecturers alike. However, most universities in Germany and abroad continue to offer in-person classes alongside online lectures. At German UDS both studies and continuing education are entirely possible in a 100% digital format. Moreover, from the start, the new university positions itself as an explicitly global educational institution. This means that students and lecturers from around the world can become part of the German UDS, as all lectures, exercises, seminars, and exams are offered digitally and exclusively in English.
German UDS Target Audiences
The German UDS is designed for all learners and teachers worldwide who want to actively shape the digital transformation. The initiators, Profs. Drs. Mike Friedrichsen and Christoph Meinel, particularly focus on the Global South: “We are not thinking exclusively, but emphatically, of people from the Global South for whom studying or further education in the western world is impossible for financial, professional, or family reasons. But even in Germany, in Europe, or other Western countries, not everyone is able to attend an in-person university.”
Addressing the Global IT Skills Shortage
The shortage of skilled professionals in many sectors continues to grow nationally and internationally. Germany, in particular, will need more highly educated professionals in the coming years than any other European country. The increasing digitalization of all areas of life significantly raises the demand for IT experts. According to the U.S.-based Korn Ferry Institute, the global tech sector alone will face a shortage of 4.3 million IT specialists by 2030.
This is where German UDS positions itself: education and training for the digital transformation.
The clear goal of German UDS is to help alleviate the critical global shortage of IT professionals, a shortage that is stalling digital progress in many countries. “In Germany alone, almost 150,000 IT positions cannot currently be filled,” says Meinel, referring to the latest findings of the Bitkom Digital Association.
Artificial intelligence alone will not solve the skills gap, Friedrichsen emphasizes: “The future problem solvers and architects of digitalization need high-quality knowledge. German UDS intends to deliver this knowledge online, no matter where in the world people live and work.”
The Academic Offering – Digital for Digital
Starting October 1, 2024, the following programs will be offered:
- – MBA programs: Digital Technologies and Digital Transformation
- – Master’s programs: Advanced Digital Reality, Applied AI, Cybersecurity, and Digital Leadership
The launch of the first MBA and Master’s degree programs will be followed by a Bachelor’s degree in Digital World. “Open Courses” and ‘Micro-Degree Programs’ complement the digital learning offering in various digital topics. A course on the innovation method “Design Thinking” is also being developed.
Anyone interested can apply for the coming semester until end of September 2024.
“We see our university’s unique selling point truly in the term ‘digital.’ It is the key to the future. That makes our offer coherent: we provide digital learning and teaching for the most central digital topics of our time – Digital Technologies and Transformation, Digital Reality and Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, and Digital Leadership Anyone wanting to dive deeply into these subjects should also apply digital technology practically during their studies. It’s not only our practical collaborations with companies and partners worldwide, but also the specially developed learning platform, German-UDS.academy, that synthesizes studies and practice through this study method. In our opinion, this significantly contributes to ‘learning by doing’,” Friedrichsen and Meinel explain. “After all, what better practice is there than to digitally tackle digital topics? Ultimately, we learn everything in a context – walking, speaking, reading, writing… We want to move, communicate, participate, and express ourselves. It’s no different in the digital world. Only by feeling at home in it can we dive deeper and shape it together.”
Students enrolled virtually at German UDS will pay moderate and affordable fees of €7,500 per academic year to obtain the Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration (MBA) degrees.
German UDS aims to serve as a “beacon of digital education,” democratizing global access to high-quality, innovative knowledge essential for navigating digital transformation and alleviating the IT skills shortage. “At the same time, the future digital university is also committed to actively promoting freedom, equality, self-determination, tolerance, and the rule of law in the digital world,” emphasizes Friedrichsen.
The German-UDS.academy learning platform
The German-UDS.academy is a digital education platform offering a wide range of interactive online courses (MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses) and additional services. Professors, lecturers and researchers from the German University of Digital Science and its partners create interactive Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on various digital transformation topics, regardless of location. These courses are then made available on the German-UDS.academy platform. With these activities, the German-UDS.academy, providing a global social learning network.
“Professors and other academics involved in our project have already prepared the first courses. They are aimed at anyone who wants to help shape the digital transformation and move confidently and self-determined in the digital world,” reports Prof. Christoph Meinel, the former Director of the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) in Potsdam, who retired as HPI Managing Director in March 2023 and immediately dedicated himself to founding the German UDS.
“With the first online courses of the emerging German UDS, we are demonstrating that we don’t just talk the talk, we act,” adds Prof. Mike Friedrichsen, who previously taught at Stuttgart Media University (HdM) for 25 years.
Support from an international advisory board
According to the initiators, the project of a private digital university is supported by an international advisory board of academics. The eight-member advisory board includes experts from the universities of Stanford (USA), Monterrey (Mexico), Madrid (Spain) and Cape Town (South Africa).
Non-Profit Sponsoring Organization Already Active
Friedrichsen and Meinel have established a foundation for their project, which serves as the shareholder of the non-profit “German University of Digital Science gGmbH”. This resides in the so-called “CloudHouse”, the headquarters of the German UDS, in Potsdam’s media city Babelsberg. It provides the start-up funding for the digital university and is responsible for all its rights and obligations. According to the initiators, they are currently in intensive discussions with private individuals, companies, and institutions about contributions to the initial financing.
