Certificates for Teaching
Your professional development can be completed with the Certificate for Teaching in Higher Education awarded by the Bavarian universities. Thanks to the uniform certification across Bavaria, you will receive formal recognition of your higher education didactic competencies.
The certificate programme is offered in three variants: At the basic level, you acquire foundational knowledge on the didactically sound design of university teaching; at the intermediate level, you deepen and expand this knowledge. After completing the intermediate level, you have the opportunity to enrol in the advanced level. Here, you will further develop your already acquired skills and knowledge in an individual and practice-oriented manner. The modules at this certificate level aim to help you reflect on and investigate your teaching activities at different levels and to document the results in a portfolio.
All courses (individual formats, self-study courses, sessions) at the basic and intermediate levels are assigned to the following areas:
| Teaching/Learning Concepts (A): | You formulate learning objectives that are competence-oriented and tailored to the target group, design courses for example based on the principles of Constructive Alignment, and implement them using appropriate methods. You support learning processes, especially self-directed learning, and foster student motivation during face-to-face, online, and self-study phases. |
| Presentation and Communication (B): | You design different teaching formats with regard to rhetorical aspects and appropriate language use. You select suitable analogue and digital media for visualisation and choose learning-promoting methods accordingly. You apply moderation and presentation techniques effectively and as needed. |
| Assessment (C): | You are able to plan, conduct, and evaluate assessments in a competence-oriented manner. You use appropriate assessment formats in compliance with legal requirements. You handle critical situations during assessments and deal competently with potential errors in the design and implementation of assessments. |
| Reflection and Evaluation (D): | You critically reflect on your own teaching behaviour and your self-concept as a teacher and pursue your professional development. This includes evaluating your own teaching with suitable methods, particularly by gathering student and peer feedback. |
| Advising and Supporting (E): | You create a respectful and constructive setting for advisory or mentoring conversations. You apply counselling methods and are aware of your limits in advising. You accompany student work through a structured process. |
The five topic areas are not consecutive. You may complete all offerings in any order you wish. To keep track, you can fill out the accompanying certificate calculator, which is available here for download: Certificate Calculator
If you wish to obtain a certificate, certain content-related and formal requirements must be met. We are happy to support you with individual planning. An overview of the requirements can be found here:
Basic Level Certificate
Scope: 60 credit units (CU)
Only courses from the JMU course programme as well as courses from the programme of the Inclusion Certificate (University of Augsburg) are credited.
If you wish to complete the certificate in English, you can also have ProfileLehrePlus seminars credited.
Minimum distribution of CU:
- Area A: 12 CU
- Area B: 12 CU
- Area C: 8 CU
- Area D: 8 CU
- Area E: 8 CU
- Elective: 12 CU
Advanced Level Certificate
Scope: 120 credit units (CU)
Credited are 60 CUs from the Basic Level Certificate, courses from the University of Würzburg’s programme, and, where applicable, external courses (including ProfiLehrePlus) up to a maximum of 60 CUs.
Minimum distribution of CUs:
- Area A: 25 CU
- Area B: 25 CU
- Area C: 10 CU
- Area D: 25 CU
- Area E: 10 CU
- Elective: 25 CU
Specialization Level Certificate
Scope: 200 credit units (CUs), of which 120 are recognised from the Advanced Level Certificate
Prerequisite: Completion of the Advanced Level Certificate and employment at the University of Würzburg
The Advanced Level consists of an elective component (60 CUs) and a compulsory component (20 CUs). Modules in the elective component can be completed in any order. These are assigned to the following areas:
- Practice
- Feedback
- Reflection
Further information on the Advanced Level
If you have obtained the Basic Level Certificate at another location and are now employed at the University of Würzburg, you are of course free to complete the Advanced Level Certificate by attending courses at our partner institutions.
- All achievements acquired within the ProfiLehrePlus network are fully recognised by all partner institutions and associated partners.
- Other continuing education achievements can be credited towards the certificate if the respective course has a clear relevance to higher education didactics or university teaching.
- Continuing education courses without a direct higher education didactics focus will only be recognised to a limited extent, up to a maximum of 10% of the entire certificate, upon request (e.g. courses on "academic key competencies" such as moderating meetings).
- Proofs of achievement must not be older than six years. Achievements obtained as part of a subject-specific degree programme are not eligible for recognition.
We align ourselves with the quality standards of the DGHD (German Society for Higher Education Didactics).
Step 1: Check.
To verify whether you have completed both the required total number of credit units and the minimum number of credit units in each of the five thematic areas (A-E), please use the certificate calculator.
Please note that certificates of attendance older than six years — in accordance with the guidelines of the DGHD (German Society for Higher Education Didactics) — can no longer be recognised.
The Basic and Advanced Level Certificates are cumulative, so an application for a double certificate cannot be granted. If you have already accumulated 120 or more credit units, you will receive one document certifying all completed courses.
Step 2: Submit your application.
Please send the completed certificate calculator along with scans of your attendance certificates for the courses you have attended by email to zbl-hochschuldidaktik@uni-wuerzburg.de. Please use the subject line “Certificate Application”. You will receive a confirmation of receipt shortly.
Step 3: Certificate dispatch.
After we have checked the documents you submitted and confirmed the accuracy of your application, the certificate will be processed. This takes approximately one week. Afterwards, we will send the certificate by internal mail to the official address you provided in the certificate calculator.
