SCIENCE MANAGEMENT: IU RESEARCHES THE YOUNG PROFESSIONAL FIELD

• The "KaWuM" project examines the tasks, career paths and willingness for further training of professionals in science and university management.
• The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding the three-year collaborative project, in which two other universities are involved in addition to IU International University of Applied Sciences.

Erfurt, 17 September 2021. Science is expected to provide solutions to the major challenges of our time. Science managers are responsible for shaping the framework conditions in research and teaching. But how do they get their job and how do they (further) qualify for this profession? Researchers from three German universities are addressing these questions in the joint project "KaWuM - Career Development and Qualification Requirements in Science and Higher Education Management".

Dr. Kerstin Janson, IU International University of Applied Sciences: "Science management is an attractive career field and not a plan B"

The project, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, is part of the funding initiative "Quality Developments in Science". Over a period of three years (2019-2022), the researchers will investigate tasks and qualification requirements in science and university management. For this purpose, professionals will be surveyed qualitatively and quantitatively - this will be done by the German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer and the Humboldt University of Berlin. The results of the surveys are continuously discussed with practitioners - the IU International University of Applied Sciences is responsible for this.

Dr. Kerstin Janson, research assistant at IU, heads the KaWuM TRANSFER sub-project with the aim of incorporating suggestions from practice into the further development of the project. Today, Friday, she gave an overview of the interim results from KaWuM at the annual conference of the Society for Higher Education Research. Dr. Kerstin Janson: "A very nice result of the KaWuM project is that both the quantitative and qualitative data prove that science management is not a plan B for a scientific career, but an attractive professional field that offers exciting tasks in a scientific environment and a work-life balance."

Further interim results of the KaWuM project:

• One striking result from the more than 1,000 data sets is that for many of the respondents, the career field of science management was already interesting at an early stage: 40 per cent stated that they already wanted to work as a science manager when they graduated.
• However, many employees enter the field via a lateral entry: more than three quarters of those surveyed had previously worked in at least two other fields.
• According to the survey, an understanding of the role as a consultant, generalist, mediator and service provider, but also a high degree of independence as well as communication skills and problem-solving abilities are promising for careers in science management.
• Further education in the field of science management is rated by the respondents as (very) relevant for the career path. Among graduates of these courses, the proportion of permanent employees and those with management functions is also the highest.

Further information on the project and regular updates on the project results can be found on the homepage www.kawum-online.de .