Teaching Awards

The “Award for Good Teaching at the State Universities of Bavaria” is given out by the Bavarian State Ministry for Science and the Arts. The Bavarian Minister of Culture awards 15 such prizes for excellence in teaching each year.

This prize, which includes €5,000 in prize money, was launched in 1998 and is granted every year to educators to recognize outstanding achievements in teaching at Bavarian universities. The award makes it clear that teaching is of the same high importance as research. It serves to acknowledge both outstanding achievements in education and the use of innovative teaching concepts as well as above-average commitment to teaching and to the interests of students.

The individual prizes are awarded to full-time teaching staff at state universities in Bavaria based on proposals made by the university president. The prerequisite for this award is a total minimum duration of two study years of outstanding teaching at a university in Bavaria. Students participate in the selection of the award recipients, and the submission of a senate decision is furthermore required to confirm the selection.

The Universities of Augsburg, Bamberg, Bayreuth, and Passau each receive one prize, while the Universities of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Regensburg, Wuerzburg, and the Technical University of Munich each receive two, and the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich receives three.

Since 2019, the university board has awarded the "Student Award for Excellent Teaching" annually on the recommendation of the student's representation.

Aim of the teaching award

• Raise the status of teaching and bring a breath of fresh air to teaching by promoting new ideas and successes
• To send out a signal of appreciation for good teaching and recognise lecturers who develop and implement innovative teaching concepts
• Special recognition for exceptional commitment to teaching

The prize can be awarded to professors, university lecturers, private lecturers, academic staff, teaching staff for special tasks and lecturers (individuals or groups). Based on the proposals received, the Student Representative Council, as the jury, proposes a teacher to the university management for the "Student Award for Outstanding Teaching". The award ceremony takes place on the university-wide"Teaching Day".

Survey and award ceremony for this year's teaching award on "Internationalisation in courses"

The Student Teaching Award 2026 honours innovative and sustainable approaches to the internationalisation in courses that create a profound intercultural and global learning context. The decisive factor is the conscious integration of international perspectives into subject-specific content, teaching methods and forms of cooperation. The survey, in which all students can participate, will be published within May.

The award winners:

• 2019: Isabella Kölz in the "Innovative Examination" category
• 2020: Manuel Ullrich in the "Digital Teaching" category
• 2021: Prof Dr Eva-Maria Kieninger in the category "Sustainable Teaching"
• 2023: Dr Werner Schmitz in the category "Co-design and Participation"
• 2024: Dr Jens Schmitz in the category "Starting your studies"
• 2025: Prof. Dr Armin Stock, Jens Damköhler and Wolfgang Lutz in the category "Future-oriented teaching with artificial intelligence" einBLICK 25.11.2025

Since fall 2003, the Albert Kölliker Teaching Award has been given out twice yearly to promote and improve teaching at the Medical Faculty of the University of Würzburg. This prize includes €10,000 towards a single project, i.e. it is not divisible; the prize money is granted for a specific purpose and must be used towards the further improvement of teaching.

The award is granted in recognition of outstanding educational achievements, the development of innovative forms of teaching, improvements in study conditions, and special commitment to students and their education.

Justified recommendations for award recipients can be submitted to the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine until April 1^st or October 1^st of a given year. Nominations can be made by teachers and students; self-nominations are also permitted. Members of the Faculty of Medicine can be nominated if they have been members of the faculty for at least two years. In addition to individuals, interdisciplinary teaching groups, clinics, and institutes can receive the award. These prizes are awarded by a committee consisting of the dean of the faculty (or vice-dean of the faculty), the dean of studies (or vice-dean of studies) acting as chairperson, the professor of medical education and training research, and three students’ representatives elected to the faculty council.

This teaching award is granted during the exam celebrations that take place in spring and fall in the Neubaukirche of the university.

Albert Kölliker Teaching Award Recipients 

The Faculty of Human Sciences awards an annual teaching prize for superb didactic-methodological[LM1]  teaching achievements. This award serves as exemplary documentation of the high esteem and recognition at the institutions of the faculty for achievements in the science of teaching.

The prize recipients are model educators and their receipt of the teaching prize is intended to send a clear message. The awarding of the prize makes it clear that outstanding achievements are honored as highly in teaching as they are in research.

Nominations are also decisively based on accomplishments in the further development of degree programs, introduction of new concepts, and in recognition of particular expertise in student advisement and supervision.

The award recipients

Here you will find an overview of all academic teaching prizes and accolades awarded in Germany for innovation in and improvement of university teaching, as well as information on the endowment processes, selection processes, and further links.