The Center of Excellence for Teaching has successfully secured a project grant of 358,000 euros to test participatory teaching formats. The funding comes from the “Freiraum” grant program, which was announced by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education Teaching.
The project ACT: Activating Co-Creative Participation aims to empower students as equal partners in teaching and learning processes in accordance with the “Students-as-Partners” approach and to provide them with genuine opportunities to shape these processes.
The focus is on developing teaching formats that enable students to play an active role in all phases of a course—from planning and implementation to assessment. Three pilot courses from the departments of Design, Engineering, and Business serve as a testing ground. In an accompanying co-learning barcamp, students and faculty engage in interdisciplinary exchange, learn from one another, and move beyond traditional role models.
The tested teaching formats will be published as open access, making them transferable beyond Mainz University of Applied Sciences. ACT is thus creating a model for participatory higher education that strengthens engagement and responsibility—fostering a living understanding of democracy in everyday university life.
The funded project begins in April 2026 and will run for 24 months. A list of funded projects is available on the foundation’s website.
