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System accreditation

On 26 June 2013, the Hochschule der Medien completed the system accreditation procedure for the first time. It thus completed the first dozen universities and universities of applied sciences in Germany to receive the seal of the Accreditation Council for their quality management system. With the successful completion of the system accreditation, the university demonstrated the suitability of its quality management system for achieving quality standards and qualification objectives. Since then, it has been authorised to accredit its Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes itself according to internal rules without external assessment.

Upon successful completion of the internal accreditation, the degree programmes receive an accreditation certificate from the HdM. Graduates will find a reference to the internal accreditation of their degree programme on the Diploma Supplement they receive upon graduation.

The Hochschule der Medien has the seal of the Accreditation Council. Its system-related alternative procedure entitled "Continuous quality development through a structured quality advisory board model" (see "Alternative procedure") was accredited by the Accreditation Council on 30/31 March 2023 until 30 September 2029.

The quality advisory board model as an alternative procedure

Stuttgart Media University has been implementing a system-based alternative procedure for quality assurance and quality development since 2021. It replaces the previous assessment with system accreditation. The model developed by the Media University in cooperation with university partners provides for continuous and structured monitoring by a quality advisory board . This committee is also made up of five external experts with a high level of expertise in quality management. The criteria of the Study Accreditation Ordinance are successively reviewed by the members of the Quality Advisory Board as part of conformity checks. In addition, the experts provide recommendations and advice on the further development of the quality management system. The mandates of the external committee are confirmed and operationalised by the internal committees (Senate and University Council). The aim of the alternative approach is to provide more individualised and sustainable support for the university in terms of quality assurance and quality development in teaching and studies. A detailed description of the alternative approach can be found hereand a summarised presentation here.

The accreditation of the innovative procedure was opened by the Accreditation Council on 29 September 2020. In October 2021, the rectors of Stuttgart Media University, Nürtingen Geislingen University of Applied Sciences (HfWU) and Furtwangen University (HFU) signed an agreement with the Accreditation Council. A group of experts from the Accreditation Council assessed the Quality Advisory Board model on 13/14 September 2022 and the concept was finally accredited at the 113th meeting of the Accreditation Council on 30/31 March 2023 as the first system-related alternative procedure at a German university. This means that the quality management system of the Hochschule der Medien is accredited until 30 September 2029. On this basis, the Media University is entitled to continue to accredit its degree programmes internally.

The Media University developed the quality advisory board model together with Furtwangen University and Nürtingen-Geislingen University. The partner universities want to learn from each other through co-operation and exchange of experience in the sense of benchmark learning. They are advised and supported by the Baden-Württemberg Evaluation Agency (evalag).

Alternative procedures are legally possible due to the freedom provided by the State Treaty on Study Accreditation, which came into force in 2018, and the Study Accreditation Ordinance of the State of Baden-Württemberg. In addition to the previous programme and system accreditations, they also allow alternative procedures for the accreditation of study programmes and quality management systems (cf. Art. 3 para. 1 no. 3 StAkkrStV and § 34 StAkkrVO Baden-Württemberg).

The Quality Advisory Board of the Hochschule der Medien

The Quality Advisory Board of the Hochschule der Medien is made up of the following members :

  • Prof. Dr Monika Bessenrodt-Weberpals, Vice President for Studies and Teaching and Equal Opportunities at HAW Hamburg
  • FH-Prof. Dr Alois Frotschnig, Head of the FH-Kollegium of the St. Pölten UAS, Austria
  • Prof. Dr Manfred Hopfenmüller, University Representative for Quality Management at OTH Regensburg
  • Lilly Dege, Head of Business at Topsim GmbH
  • Florian Hoffmann, student at the TU Munich

The constituent meeting took place on 27 April 2022. Since then, the Quality Advisory Board has met at least once a year.

Cooperation with the quality work is managed by an internal coordination group . It is made up of the Vice-Rector for Teaching and Quality Management, Prof Dr Mathias Hinkelmann, and the Quality Management and System Accreditation Officer, Dr Luz-Maria Linder. In 2024 and 2025, Dr Luz-Maria Linder will also hold the cross-university coordination office to support cooperation between the three partner universities.

Complaints against positive conformity decisions must be addressed to the Quality Advisory Board of the Hochschule der Medien. They can be submitted to the office of the Quality Advisory Board, Dr Luz-Maria Linder. The response period for justified complaints is 14 days. The internal coordination group will first carry out a preliminary review to check whether the complaint is formally justified and to resolve any misunderstandings. If the Chairman of the Quality Advisory Board, who then receives the complaint for examination on file, is unable to resolve it, it will be submitted for resubmission at the next meeting of the Quality Advisory Board. The Quality Advisory Board is authorised to accept or reject the complaint. Complaints against negative conformity decisions by the Quality Advisory Board that are followed by Senate decisions on operationalisation must be addressed to the Senate. Any member of the Senate may request that the matter be referred to the Senate again. The complaint must be submitted to the Senate office, Sanja Friese. If no agreement can be reached between the Quality Advisory Board and the Senate, both bodies can initiate a mediation procedure . All further details can be found in the Complaints Management Concept of the HdM on the quality advisory board model.

The Media University informed the public about the opening of the alternative procedure in a press release on 18 November 2020.