A new, fully digital university in Potsdam will in future train experts for digital change all over the world. This was announced on Thursday by the two computer science professors Mike Friedrichsen and Christoph Meinel. The application for admission for the private and non-profit university “German University of Digital Science” (German UDS) in Potsdam has been submitted to the state government of Brandenburg. The country’s Ministry of Science is currently examining the concept. The two university founders expect that the Science Council will soon deal with the project.
The Digital University’s English-language teaching operations are to be implemented online with a learning platform from next October. “This can process an enormous number of interactions with learners all over the world without delays or failures,” explained Prof. Meinel, the former director of the Potsdam Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI). In March 2023, the now 69-year-old resigned as HPI managing director . Friedrichsen (63) will be leaving the Stuttgart Media University (hdm) as a professor of business informatics and digital media in February 2024.
The aim of the digital university is to make a contribution to reducing the global shortage of IT specialists, explained Meinel and Friedrichsen. “In Germany alone, almost 150,000 positions cannot currently be filled with IT experts,” said Meinel, referring to a corresponding study by the digital association Bitkom. Artificial intelligence alone will not help close the skills gap, explained Friedrichsen.
The Digital University wants to initially target three English-language online study programs primarily at people in the global south and elsewhere who have no opportunity to study face-to-face at a university, explained Meinel. Students would be charged “moderate and affordable fees” to obtain the Bachelor and Master of Science degrees as well as the Master of Business Administration.
The learning platform is scheduled to launch in January to give an impression of the courses on offer. The first courses will cover the topics of “digital science”, artificial intelligence, digital identities, data protection and programming. A course on the innovation method “Design Thinking” is also being prepared.