FHM Bielefeld

The FHM is a private, non-profit, and state-approved University of Applied Sciences. The FHM has been founded in 2000 by medium-sized enterprises and educational institutions. Since then, it has developed into one of the most successful private universities in Germany with a strong focus on the needs of SMEs. The FHM's goal is to provide students with necessary theoretical and hands-on skills for their later business career. The FHM' concept focuses on practical career orientation, individual tutoring, and small group sizes. At present, there are approx. 5200 students in BA, MA and MBA programs, 100 in doctoral programs, and 630 in scientific further education. The programs on offer include 32 BA study programs, 9 MA programs, 1 doctoral program in cooperation with the British universities of Gloucestershire and Worcester, and 9 programs in the field of scientific further education. Study programs cover 3 main areas: Economics; Media & Communication; HR, Health, and Social Work. The FHM employs 95 professors and cooperates with about 240 experts from business sector as guest lecturers. Apart from the central FHM campus located in Bielefeld, the FHM maintains 8 further locations in Cologne, Frechen, Hanover, Rostock, Schwerin, Bamberg, Dueren, and Berlin. The study programs are offered in full, part time, and as distance learning. Various educational provisions for supporting Lifelong learning are coordinated and managed by the FHM' Institute of Continuing Education and Competence Development, which responds to the needs of target groups with different professional, educational, and social backgrounds. Flexible mechanisms on recognition of available skills and competences have been elaborated and implemented. Department of Competence Diagnostics and Development provides different tools and measures for detecting, estimating, and developing potentials of learners and employees. In addition, the FHM maintains the Center for Sustainable Governance (CSG) which is working closely with the Federal Ministry of the North-Rhine Westphalia. The mission of the CSG is to elaborate the ecological, social, and economic criteria for industries and companies, to monitor their compliance and to control their sustainable development. To this end, CSG develops reliable and practical tools and solutions for measuring sustainability of state, municipalities, and companies.

What are the activities and experience of the organisation in the areas relevant for this project? What are the skills and/or expertise of key persons involved in this project?

The FHM's Center for Sustainable Governance CSG is actively engaged in the design and implementation of strategies and tools towards promoting sustainable development at federal state, regional and local level. One example is the socalled Sustainability Compass that allows transparent and systematic assessment of various sustainability criteria in relation to any level of action. Another example is open information portal for sustainability issues that is centrally coordinated by CSG. This portal is being maintained in 2 languages - German and English - and provides daily updates all around sustainability topics (http://www.csg-today.org/).

Currently, FHM is coordinating two E+ CP projects that address the challenges of sustainable growth, particularly the needs of SMEs in transitioning to Circular Economy (L2C) and reducing packaging or turning to more sustainable forms of packages (Packless). Both project are placed in the sector of VET and aims to produce trainings and solutions for the business sector to pave the way towards more circularity and sustainable growth. These experiences and concrete solutions will be incorporated and sharing within project, offering a solid foundation for further adaptation and development according to countries' specific needs and peculiarities.

KEY STAFF: Prof. Dr. Volker Wittberg: Volker Wittberg is Vice-Rector for Research and Development at the FHM since 2014. In addition, he heads the Center for Sustainable Governance (CSG) e and the National Center for Bureaucracy Cost Reduction, both established at the FHM under his leadership and curation. For almost 20 years Volker Wittberg has been Professor for SME Management. His research focuses on global SME Management, administrative burden control and sustainable governance. He has carried out numerous studies in collaboration with the Federal governments in Germany, which were presented and awarded at the Climate Change Conference (2012) and at the OECD Good Governance Conference (2013). In this field, he has performed several research, evaluation and accreditation tasks for the Bundestag and Federal Parliament committees. He has published more than 50 papers and conference presentations, co-authored and edited a number of books. Besides, Volker Wittberg has been Visiting Professor at the University of Gloucestershire (UK) for almost 10 years.

ELISA GOLDMANN MBA: Elisa has been working in the field of national and international projects for 7 years. Since 2019 she has been supporting ERASMUS + projects at the FHM. As a research assistant she focuses on sustainability, sustainable education, digitalisation and bureaucracy reduction. Since her MBA Programme, she has been working on the implementation of sustainability concepts in medium-sized companies and is supporting the FHM Institute Center for Sustainable Governance (CSG). She is currently working on ERASMUS + project "GoBeEco - Gamification of eco-friendly habits in adult education (2020-2023).

MARIANNA GEVORSKI Dipl.-Kffr.: Marianna is head the R&D Project Department and is in charge of the development, cocreation and implementation of R&D projects with partners from different sectors and areas. Since 2007 she is designing, elaborating, and realizing projects with a strong focus on international cooperation. Marianna has coordinated more than 50 international projects funded by the EU Commission such as TEMPUS, Leonardo Da Vinci, ERASMUS+. Marianna is also managing projects financed by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ) outside Europe, e.g. the Vocational Partnership Program with Dr. Auma Obama Sauti Kuu Foundation in Kenia, aiming to support youth in rural areas. Marianna has been a DAAD Expert for Erasmus+ programs in the period of 2018-2020.

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