The paper investigates quality management in teaching and learning in higher education institutions from a principal-agent perspective. Based on data gained from semi-structured interviews and from a nation-wide survey with quality managers of German higher education institutions, the study shows how quality managers position themselves in…

In Germany enrolment in majors is of considerable interest to academic departments, because their budget depends on the number of enrolled students. Besides observed factors, we presume that unobserved latent variables influence the major-choice decision of students. Using stated preferences data from a discrete choice experiment among students…

No consensus has been reached so far concerning the key topics on quantum physics suitable for secondary school teaching, despite comprehensive research. We identified the the variety of associations with quantum physics among professionals as a potential cause. From an explorative mind map study with N = 29 physics researchers, we derive six…

This contribution takes a critical perspective on digital school performance platforms (SPP), which today play a key role in US state education monitoring and accountability. Using examples from two different US state education agencies, I provide an analytical disentanglement of some key dimensions of such platforms' enactment and materiality. I…

Many Anglo-American universities have undertaken a paradigm shift in how the dissection of human material is approached, such that students are encouraged to learn about the lives of body donors, and to respectfully "personalize" them as human beings, rather than treating the specimens as anonymous cadavers. For the purposes of this…

In this paper, I analyze how recent calls to internationalize publication behavior affect research practices at an automotive engineering department in Germany. Automotive engineering is a field with traditionally rather scarce publication activity and strong connections to industry. Substantial authority to define suitable research problems and…

From the 1990s onwards, economics departments in Europe have changed toward a culture of "excellence." Strong academic hierarchies and new forms of academic organization replace "institutes" and "colleges" by fully equipped "economics departments." This article seeks to demonstrate how and why…

Early career researchers are faced with the expectation of their scientific communities to conduct independent research, which is reflected in the development of independent new research lines. This change must take place under conditions that vary between national career systems. Case studies for a chair system (Germany) and two tenure systems,…

This chapter reports on the 'Corona teaching' in a department of English studies at a German university of technology. It discusses the general frame in the German university system and in this specific department, faculty and university. It focuses on the responses depending on participants and learning objectives. One larger lecture for 1st year…

The relevance of the chosen problem is caused by the necessity of finding a model of qualitative growth of specialists training in conditions when cuts in expenditure of the state budget allocated to education occurs annually. Besides, the development of technology inevitably leads to the expansion of the list of subspecialties employers need. The…