Our work

What we do to promote equality and equal opportunities

We develop and support measures to promote gender equality, equal opportunities and greater diversity at Ulm University of Technology (THU).

The aim of our work is to create fair and equal conditions for studying, teaching, research and work at the university – regardless of a person’s gender.

Our tasks include, among other things:

We advise students, staff and lecturers on everything to do with gender equality.
We support female students, employees and professors in our seminars and workshops.
By introducing a technical orientation semester for women, we want to increase the number of female students in technical subjects.
We support female first-year students by providing them with mentors from higher semesters.
We help parents to better reconcile work or studies and family life - for example through our family rooms.
We are involved in appointment committees and job interviews so that everyone has the same opportunities.
We raise awareness of unconscious bias - for example through our anti-bias training courses.
We support teaching staff in incorporating gender and diversity aspects into teaching and research.
We are part of the Dual Career Network Swabia.

The picture shows several colorful playing pieces that form a rainbow. — The Equal Opportunities team is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of their gender, is treated equally at Ulm University of Applied Sciences.

All equality actors at a glance

Equality

The Central Equal Opportunity Officer at THU is Prof. Dr. Barbara Streppel. She heads the Office for Equal Opportunity.

There are various deputy officers in the faculties:

Faculty E (Electrical Engineering and Information Technology): Prof. Dr. Marianne von Schwerin
Faculty G (Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Economic Sciences): Prof. Dr. Theresa Herrmann
Faculty I (Computer Science): Prof. Dr. med. Tim Pietzcker
Faculty M (Mechanical Engineering and Automotive Engineering): Prof. Dr. Karsten Günther
Faculty P (Production Engineering and Industrial Management): Prof. Dr. Sebastian Geier
Faculty T (Mechatronics and Medical Technology): Prof. Dr. Malte Groß

The Equal Opportunity Officer and her deputies are elected by the Senate.

In the Office for Gender Equality, staff members also implement gender equality measures:

Equality Officer responsible for substantive work: Angelina Schmid, M.A.
The THU participates in the Women Professors Program. Three coordinators implement the measures: Nora Ateia, M.A., Anna-Lena Mutscheller, M.A., and Corinna Pusch, M.A.

The Gender Equality team addresses the concerns of students, academic staff, and faculty members.

Equal Opportunity

The Equal Opportunity Officer, Pia Blank, and her deputy are responsible for the university’s administrative and technical staff. This includes, among others, employees in administration, secretarial offices, laboratory staff, and technical services staff.

Legal basis of equality

The legal basis for our work is the State Higher Education Act. Section 4 of this Act requires institutions of higher education

to take gender-specific impacts into account in all areas, tasks, and decisions.
to ensure equal opportunities for women and men.
to eliminate existing disadvantages.
to actively promote women in all disciplines and at all levels where they are underrepresented.
to support the balance between family life and academic work.

Projects and measures

Start your future with Technik +O, the orientation semester for women. — THU offers the Technology +O orientation semester exclusively for women.

Women Professors Program 2030

Ulm University of Applied Sciences has successfully applied for funding from the Program to Promote Female Professors.

As part of this funding initiative, the university receives funds from the federal and state governments to finance gender equality measures. This funding has also made it possible to hire female research assistants to implement these measures.

The following has already been implemented: Technik +O, a technical orientation semester for women.

Other measures planned in the Women Professors Program

Prevention and Intervention Regarding Discrimination and Sexual Violence
Establishment of an alumnae network, in collaboration with other universitiesLecture series on gender in academia
Training for appointment committees
Increasing the visibility of female professors to ensure a gender-equitable distribution of tasks and roles, whether they carry a great deal or little prestige and power
Providing support for caregiving responsibilities

You can find more information about the project at the Female Professors Program 2030.

The symbol image shows several measures and their progress. — The Female Professors Program 2030 provides for numerous measures to further promote gender equality at THU.

The photo shows a light bulb. — The FH-Personal / THUProf4.0 project aims to recruit new professorial staff for universities. The focus of the gender equality area is primarily on recruiting women.

FH Personal / THUProf4.0

To ensure that universities of applied sciences can continue to fulfill their important role in the future, they rely on highly qualified staff. For this reason, the federal government and the states have launched the program to support the recruitment and training of faculty at universities of applied sciences (FH-Personal).

Ulm University of Applied Sciences is participating in this funding program. The project is led by Chancellor Dr. Christian Elmo Wolff and the Equal Opportunity Officer, Prof. Dr. Barbara Streppel. One of the key focuses of the project’s implementation at THU is the area of diversity and equality.

Measures already implemented under this priority:

Standardization of procedures in appointment processes to promote equal opportunity. This has resulted in the appendices for the new THU appointment guidelines.
Raising awareness through anti-bias training
Highlighting diversity at the university

THU provides information about the project and its other priority areas on the THUProf4.0 project website.

You can find more information about the federal project on the website of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space: FH-Personal.

The picture shows the lettering: "One language for all." — THU wants to use language that does not exclude anyone. It therefore recommends gender-neutral forms and forms with the gender asterisk.

Gender-equitable language

Why is gender-equitable language important?
Language has the potential to discriminate and exclude. At the same time, however, it also offers the opportunity to create visibility and change reality in the long term.

Example: People should choose a course of study based on their interests. However, if we only ever talk about engineers or technicians, it seems as if only men can pursue these professions. Of course, this is not the case - but for female students, for example, this can subconsciously have a major influence on whether they can imagine themselves in such professions or rule them out from the outset.

How do I gender correctly?
The THU recommends two variants:

Gender-neutral forms
Forms with the gender asterisk

You can find all information on this and examples of use in the manual "Gender-equitable language".

Does equality mean that women are favored?

No. Equality means that the rights, duties and opportunities of all people do not depend on their gender.

Unfortunately, there are still numerous actual structural inequalities and disadvantages that affect women. Unfortunately, women are still underrepresented in technical degree courses and in management positions.

Our task is to shape and live the structures in all areas of THU in such a way that they lead to de facto equality for women in all areas of the university. Until the gender ratio at universities is balanced, we support women and are committed to increasing their proportion in studies, among staff and in professorships.