Slides of the talk at the 15th annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference, INTED 2021 (virtual conference), March 8th-9th, 2021.

1. UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY COLLABORATION’S NEXT
LEVEL: A COMPARATIVE STUDY AS BASIS FOR A
USER-CENTRED DESIGN OF A MASTER’S
PROGRAMME IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Dagmar Monett, Claudia Lemke
Berlin School of Economics and Law (GERMANY)
15th annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference, INTED 2021,
Valencia, March 8th-9th, 2021

2. Outline
★ Motivation
★ Methodology
★ Results
★ Master’s study programme on Digital Transformation
★ Conclusion
2
Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021

3. Outline
★ Motivation
★ Methodology
★ Results
★ Master’s study programme on Digital Transformation
★ Conclusion
3
Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021

4. Needed: new education mindset
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Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021
Learners are not sufficiently involved
in the current higher education policy
debates and scientific discourses on the
opportunities and challenges of digital
change. This means that they usually only
play the role of passive participants.*
* Translated from (Baumann et al. 2019), DOI:
10.5281/zenodo.3250766)
Missing piece: a truly user-centred
approach that responds to high pressing
challenges of both tertiary education and
digital transformation at the enterprise.
Source: Gert Altmann, www.pixabay.com 2020,
free comercial use;

5. 5
Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021
MINT-Herbstreport 2020 (p. 60), Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft
https://www.iwkoeln.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Studien/Gutachten/PDF/2020/
MINT-Herbstreport_2020.pdf
■ Older workers in STEM
professions in Germany
■ Proportion of age segment,
55+ years
Dark blue: up to 18,1%
Dark grey: more than 23,9%
Also a challenge: Demographics

6. The German Dual System
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Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021
David Liuzzo https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1276668
■ Founded in Baden-Württemberg
(1974)
■ Companies claimed for more
praxis-oriented study
programmes ...
■ ... and fostered their
development!

7. Universities of Applied Sciences
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Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021
Higher
education
instruction
Compulsory
internships at
companies
+
= 3 years of job integrated learning, where companies are
responsible for the practice-oriented part of the studies!

8. Outline
★ Motivation
★ Methodology
★ Results
★ Master’s study programme on Digital Transformation
★ Conclusion
8
Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021

9. Three surveys were conducted
9
University’s partner companies
Time period: Dec 3rd, 2019 – Jan 6th, 2020
Invitations sent: 376
Responses received: 99
Students
Time period: Apr 1st, 2019 – Apr 14th, 2019
Invitations sent: 11,192
Responses received: 461
Other companies Berlin/Brandenburg
Time period: Jan 28th, 2020 – Feb 9th, 2020
Invitations sent: 120
Responses received: 21
M a i n g o a l
Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021
S1
S2
S3
To gather information
about the preferences
from both perspectives,
of the learners and of
potential companies

10. Typical survey topics
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Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021
Section Topics
General information
about the person
For students: type of studies, year, term, career, faculty or
school
For companies: company, role, whether they have already
students and where
General information
about master’s
studies
Starting time, reasons for studying a master, location,
university, time model, payment model, format, frequency,
specialization level, language
General information
about possible
contents
Interest/motivation, potential modules and contents

11. Outline
★ Motivation
★ Methodology
★ Results
★ Master’s study programme on Digital Transformation
★ Conclusion
11
Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021

12. General information about participants
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Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021
Students (survey S1):
● 87% Bachelor students (38.6% first-year, 22.1% second-year, and
23.9% third-year)
● 11.9% Master students (5.2% first-year and 5.4% second-year),
● 49.2% already in Dual studies
From companies (surveys S1 and S2):
● 33.3% (resp. 61.9%) heads of departments or C-level in S2 (resp. S3)
● 18.2% training or junior managers (S2)
● 23.8% engineers or with a similar role (S3)
● Rest: instructors, project leaders and consultants, among others

13. General information Master’s Studies
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Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021
Students (survey S1):
● 54% plans Master’s studies after graduating
● The attractiveness of the content or of the area of expertise
played the most important role: 83.3% considered it “very
important” or “extremely important”
● Ideally, students would study in Berlin (67.2%), part-time (39.7%),
face-to-face at selected attendance weeks (29.9%), and without
paying for the studies, if possible (61.6%)
From companies (surveys S1 and S2):
● The attractiveness of the content or of the area of expertise: 93.9%
● Would assume part the costs (40.4% for survey S2 and 61.9% for
survey S3) and would support learning activities “at” the company
(45.5% for survey S2 and 47.6% for survey S3), although only on
selected days

14. Contents: Top five choices of students
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Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021
Students’ choices (survey S1) include more technologies that
are having and will continue to have a fundamental impact in
our future.
(For the Likert values “very interesting” and “extremely interesting” combined)

15. Content: Top five choices of companies (i)
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Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021
Respondents from companies in the second survey (S2) are
more interested in management or company-related processes
not necessarily concerning emergent technologies.
(For the Likert values “very interesting” and “extremely interesting” combined)

16. Content: Top five choices of companies (ii)
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Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021
(For the Likert values “very interesting” and “extremely interesting” combined)
The interest of respondents from non-partner companies
(survey S3) considers both emergent technologies and
company-related processes.

17. Outline
★ Motivation
★ Methodology
★ Results
★ Master’s study programme on Digital Transformation
★ Conclusion
17
Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021

18. Master’s Studies DT
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Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021
Source: Gert Altmann, www.pixabay.com 2020,
free comercial use;
1 year work experience; 210 ECTS
Master of Science (M.Sc.), 90 ECTS
Blended learning
4 study terms
Learning + research + praxis
Specializations: emerging technologies
Interdisciplinary practical projects and
challenges
Dual studies
Company support

19. Digital skills
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Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021
 Critical thinking: differentiated, fact-
based analysis, holistic point of view
(technology - economy - society)
 Collaboration and communication:
interdisciplinary teams, interlinking
theory with practical challenges,
independent learning in both
synchronous and asynchronous formats
 Creativity: modern problem-solving
methods like design thinking and agile
management in companies and
organizations
Source: Gert Altmann, www.pixabay.com 2020,
free comercial use;

20. Outline
★ Motivation
★ Methodology
★ Results
★ Master’s study programme on Digital Transformation
★ Conclusion
20
Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021

21. Best practices
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Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021
 Working groups with faculty
commissions
 Report directly to the dean,
periodically.
 Board of trustees with expert leaders
 Meet weekly. Daily, if possible.
 Interact with faculty and experts,
closely.
 Share digital spaces
 Worship and practice Teamgeist, trust,
values, common research topics and
experience, enthusiasm, and a little of
stubbornness whenever needed.
 Think of students all the time
Source: Gert Altmann, www.pixabay.com 2020,
free comercial use;

22. Thanks for your attention!
For further insights and discussion, please contact:
dagmar.monett-diaz@hwr-berlin.de
claudia.lemke@hwr-berlin.de
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Monett & Lemke, INTED 2021