Formation

The basis for this was set out in an agreement reached by the federal and state governments on the 6th of June 2019. The Administrative Agreement “Innovation in Higher Education Teaching” states that “a new organisation is to be set up for the continuous promotion of innovative capacity, the sharing of ideas, networking, and knowledge transfer in academic studies and teaching”.

Following a competitive selection process, the Toepfer Stiftung gGmbH was selected by the Joint Science Conference (GWK) to establish this organisation under its auspices on the 6th of December 2019.

Toepfer Stiftung gGmbH is a small but experienced and well-connected organisation, which operates in the field of innovative university teaching as well as carrying out promotional work. Through its Lehreⁿ project, which was facilitated by a broad alliance and has recently received funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, it has already developed a successful coalition for good university teaching practice and has established a network of excellence for teaching-related university development over the past ten years.

Working in close collaboration with the direction of the Federal-State Committee (Bund-Länder-Gremium), all legal and organisational prerequisites have been in place since January 2020 and Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre has been established under the auspices of Toepfer Stiftung gGmbH.

The mandate was to set up the Foundation as a viable entity by the 1st of January 2021. An advanced funding announcement was published on the 19th of November 2020 to ensure that the first grants could be transferred to the universities without delay.