Unbounding Teaching: Symposium on Diversity, Participation, and Innovative Perspectives in Higher Education Teaching

The first DiGENet-Symposium, “Unbounding Teaching: Perspectives, Ideas, Impulses,” brought together educators, students, project partners, and diversity practitioners from across Berlin University Alliance on the campus of Freie Universität Berlin. To kick off the event, FU Vice President Prof. Dr. Sven Chojnacki underlined special attention to diversity and gender equality as a necessary condition of quality teaching in higher education while recognizing the added value of the cross-institutional exchange of BUA.

DiGENet’s International Guest Prof. Tanja Tajmel contributed a keynote presentation titled “A Human Rights-Based Approach to Diversity and Gender Equality in Higher Education” to the program, which was followed by practice-oriented workshops. In two workshop rounds, participants reflected on concrete approaches for advancing gender- and diversity-sensitive education, ranging from certificate programs and digital seminars to trainings on inclusive teaching methods.

A prior call for participation resulted in a poster exhibition featuring thematically related initiatives from across the alliance, creating a point of departure for further discussion and exchange. Prof. Tajmel and DiGENet Audre Lorde Visiting Professor Eva Cheng brought the program to a close with a moderated discussion, exploring possibilities for more inclusive, institutionally-anchored gender- and diversity-sensitive higher education.