Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - bologna.lab

Frequently asked questions

Concerning the nomination

Who can nominate? 🖉

All members of HU - students, academic staff, technical and service staff, all teaching staff, as well as organisations like student bodies or departments - can nominate.

 

Who can be nominated? 🖉

All teaching staff that are institutionally tied to HU can be nominated. The institutional connection is necessary because the prize money is earmarked for improving teaching at the HU.

 

Are external lecturers and former members of an institute eligible for nomination?

No. External lecturers and former members of a department cannot be considered for the award, as their employment status does not guarantee that they can use the prize money for teaching at the HU.

 

Can a department/facility of the HU be nominated? 🖉

Yes. In this case, the director is nominated as a substitute. The nomination should then sufficiently justify the extent to which the department or institute or unit as a whole takes account of the advertised focus.

 

Can more than one nomination be submitted? 🖉

Yes. If teachers with different courses are nominated, a separate nomination per course is required in each case. If different teachers with different courses are nominated, a separate nomination for each teacher is also required.

 

Can more than one teacher be nominated for one course? 🖉

Yes. One collective nomination can be submitted for teachers who have jointly supervised a course.

 

What are the options if more than one person supports a nomination? 🖉

You can enter up to five other people with an email address who support the nomination.
Alternatively, the supporters can each submit their own nominations. This has the advantage that the nominators can each formulate their own reasons and thus provide a more comprehensive impression of the nominated teacher and their teaching concept.

 

How detailed should the nomination questions be answered and what exactly do you want to know? 🖉

The answers to the nomination questions schould be as precise and clear as possible, this makes it easier for those involved in the selection process to understand your reasoning and evaluate the teaching concept described. General statements such as "X has aroused our interest in empirical educational research" should be made more concrete in order to make the teacher's didactic approach comprehensible, e.g. "X has discussed with us the extent to which empirical educational research is changing pedagogical practice in school, thus stimulating us to think about the significance of empirical research".

 

Can nominations also be sent by post or e-mail? 🖉

In principle, we use the online nomination. If you are unable or unwilling to use the online procedure, please contact the bologna.lab for alternative nomination methods.

 

Can I nominate courses from previous semesters? 🖉

Yes - to a limited extent. The award has an annually changing thematic focus. All courses that fall within the corresponding year can be nominated - for the 2022 teaching award, for example, courses from the winter semester 2021/22, the summer semester 2022 and the winter semester 2022/23 could be nominated. Courses from longer ago (here, e.g. from 2020) cannot be considered.

 

Concerning the selection process

Who decides whether a nomination meets the criteria of the advertised focus? 🖉

The nominations are forwarded to the departments and student councils for consideration. The department and the student council are asked to comment on the nomination in their statements, thereby adressing this question. The final decision is then made by the dean of studies.

 

To whom should the departments and student councils send their statements? 🖉

Either to the bologna.lab or directly to the dean of studies of their respective faculty.

 

Until when can the student representatives and institutes submit their statements?🖉

They will be informed of the submission deadline beforehand. As a rule, departments, faculties and student bodies are informed of the deadline when they receive their nominations.
If you have any questions, please contact either the dean of studies of your faculty or directly the bologna.lab.

 

What documents does the bologna.lab need from the dean's offices? 🖉

The bologna.lab forwards all recommended nominations to the selection jury. Thus we require a statement from the dean's offices for each recommended nomination as well as the corresponding statements from the student council and the institute.

 

How many nominations can a deanery recommend to the jury? 🖉

Each deanery can recommend up to three nominations within its own faculty for the award; as the biggest faculty, the faculty of humanities and social sciences can recommend up to six nominations to the jury.
The jury selects the award winner from the recommendations of all deaneries.