Call for Applications LehrZeit
Giving students and instructors time to develop innovative teaching ideas – that is the goal of the internal university program LehrZeit! At the same time, the initiative aims to implement the Quality and Qualification Targets for Studies and Teaching (Q-Targets) at Osnabrück University: Scientific Rigor, Interdisciplinarity, Profile Development, and Personal Development. Just how creative these ideas can be can be seen in the award-winning LehrZeit projects that have been funded to date.
To enable the development and implementation of innovative concepts, project groups consisting of students and instructors are funded each year through teaching load reductions, staff positions, or student assistant contracts. Within the LehrKolleg, these project groups network with each other, with the Department of Higher Education Didactics at virtUOS, and with the Permanent Working Group: Teaching (Ständige AG Lehre).
In the new round of funding, three project teams composed of students and instructors will once again be awarded up to €25,000 each for one semester (Summer Semester 2026). The focus of this funding round is on projects and formats that take a creative approach to Q-Target 3: Profile Development and Professionalisation.
The deadline for applications is October 31, 2025! We are looking forward to receiving your project ideas!
Current invitation to tender
The application deadline is October 31, 2025! You can find all information about the application under Current call for applications.
Current Call for Applications
The current call for applications runs until October 31, 2025. This time, the funding focus is on projects and formats that creatively address Q-Target 3: "Profile Development and Professionalisation" in the Summer Semester 2026.
To participate in the call, please complete the application form (PDF, 465 kB) and submit a project outline. This should not exceed two pages and must address the following points:
1. Brief description of the concept/project idea
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What is the initial situation?
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What do you want to achieve? What is your idea for the further development of teaching?
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Which of the four quality and qualification goals of studying and teaching - academicism, interdisciplinarity, profile development, personal development - would you like to implement with your idea?
2. Sustainability and transferability
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How can your idea be realized in the subject?
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(How) If successful, can your idea be anchored in the curriculum?
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(How) Can your concept idea be transferred to other subjects or degree programs?
3. Procedure and required resources
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What is the rough timeline (action/milestone plan)?
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Will you apply for a reduction in teaching load (for how many people and how much) or a 0.5 position for a research assistant for one semester to participate in the project?
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Do you need support from virtUOS/University Didactics?
Please submit the form and the application outline - also electronically - to the university management via the dean's office of your school by October 31, 2025.
If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Britta Scheideler: Tel. +49 541 969 4080, e-mail: britta.scheideler@uni-osnabrueck.de.
Details on funding
Students or lecturers in all teaching units. A project group must consist of at least one professor, three to five students and, as a rule, one member of the non-professorial teaching staff. Of the total number of applications received, the aim is to fund a balanced number of projects initiated and applied for by students on the one hand and teaching staff on the other.
The funding period is one semester per project group. Up to a total of approx. € 25,000 can be applied for per project for auxiliary staff contracts for the students involved as well as for the following mutually exclusive options 1) and 2):
- Compensation for loss of teaching time. The lecturers involved are released from teaching for a total of up to 9 semester hours and the loss of teaching time is compensated, whereby teaching can be reduced by up to a maximum of 50 percent and in absolute terms by a maximum of 4 semester hours per participating lecturer.
- 0.5 position for a research assistant to participate in the project. The teaching commitment associated with the position does not affect capacity and can therefore be incorporated into the teaching project as additional teaching.
The loss of teaching time is compensated either by appropriately remunerated teaching assignments, for which a special significance within the meaning of § 9 of the guideline on the awarding and remuneration of teaching assignments at Osnabrück University can be assumed, or a 0.5 position for a teacher for special tasks (with 9 SWS). It is not possible to combine individual teaching assignments with the pro rata employment of a lecturer for special tasks.
Funding can only be provided for staff currently already employed if it is an increase in the number of staff previously employed on a part-time basis to compensate for teaching or to participate in the project. There are no plans to refinance existing contractual relationships.
Students (max. 3-5 pers.) receive assistant contracts for their participation (max. 10 hours per week for four or five contracts) and, if applicable, credit points.
- Explicit reference to one of the four quality and qualification goals of studying and teaching
- Possibility of anchoring the measure to be planned in the curriculum (e.g. in a compulsory elective area) and awarding credit points
- Transferability or model character for other teaching units
- High degree of concretization/operationalizability of the measure applied for
The jury consists of the members of the Permanent Working Group on Teaching.
- Innovation boost with a broad impact, as the funded concept drafts are presented to the university public in workshops and should be transferable to other subjects/courses of study if possible
- At the end of the project funding period, an evaluation or comparable Quality Assurance measure is carried out