On 14 July 2025, the first inter-university exchange meeting of Bavarian universities of applied sciences on the topic of appointment management took place at OTH Regensburg. The format was initiated by Prof. Dr. Carina Braun, Vice President for Appointments and Student Lifecycle Management at OTH Regensburg.
The aim of the event was to create a forum for strategic dialogue at management level on a topic that is equally central to all universities of applied sciences but has so far been discussed little systematically across universities. Representatives from the presidencies, human resources departments and appointment coordination offices of 11 Bavarian universities took part in the exchange.
After a welcome by OTH President Prof. Dr. Ralph Schneider, Prof. Dr. Carina Braun and Dr. Edith Wilson opened with a keynote speech on career paths to HAW professorship and insights from three years of ZAP. OTHR – a project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMFTR) on the ‘future of academic staff’ as part of the FH-Personal funding line. Afterwards, the participants discussed key issues relating to the quality and efficiency of appointment procedures, strategic recruitment, equality and digital and innovative perspectives for appointment management in the future in thematically focused groups.
The intensive exchange showed that despite different organisational approaches at the universities, there are many common challenges – for example, in the use of new appointment instruments, in strategic positioning in the competition for talent, or in the implementation of equality-oriented measures. There was agreement that appointment management must increasingly be understood as a strategic process that should be professionally managed, quality-assured and digitised in the future.
The positive atmosphere of the meeting was accompanied by the desire to establish a permanent exchange on the topic of ‘appointment management’. The event thus provided a valuable impetus for cross-university cooperation – with the aim of learning from each other, leveraging synergies and further developing appointment management at Bavarian universities of applied sciences in a future-oriented manner.
