Interdisciplinary weeks at Kiel University of Applied Sciences: Innovation meets education!

Interdisciplinary weeks at Kiel University of Applied Sciences: Innovation meets education!

Kiel University of Applied Sciences launched this year's Interdisciplinary Weeks (IDW) on October 27th, 2025, which lasts until November 9th. This event is taking place for the 13th time and is intended to give students the opportunity to look beyond their specialist areas. During these two weeks, regular lectures are canceled and students can choose from a varied program of 220 events. These range from topics such as “Energy supply without Russian imports” to “Artificial intelligence in art” – a real land of milk and honey for inquisitive minds!

At the start of the research and transfer day, organized by Dr. Andreas Borchardt and his team, almost 30 interested people from different disciplines took part. In his welcoming remarks, Prof. Dr. Tobias Hochscherf, Vice President for Research and Transfer, the central role of high-quality teaching and applied research. Hochscherf also plans to make the event even larger next year and to include representatives from society in order to promote exchange.

Variety of offers

The IDW offers numerous events that often deal with topics that are not related to the course of study. These range from practical projects such as producing a radio show to excursions to places such as the Stralsund Ocean Museum or a concrete factory. Most events take place in person, although online and hybrid formats are also offered. The language offerings, which cover a variety of languages, such as Italian, French and even Chinese, are also particularly popular.

An exciting highlight is the “LLM Prof.” project, which is led by Prof. Dr. Florian Schatz was introduced. This project aims to transfer learning content into a large language model in order to offer students a flexible learning opportunity. If the project, which runs until December 2026, is successful, it could be an important step towards a university AI that also operates in compliance with data protection regulations.

Digital future in studies

Another central aspect of the IDW is the discussion about digital technologies and their influence on higher education. Studies show that technical developments such as artificial intelligence can make higher education fairer and more efficient. Kiel University of Applied Sciences is actively participating in this transformation by breaking new ground with projects such as the Digital Learning Campus and the Itzehoe Innovation Center to offer students innovative learning formats.

Ulrike Laackmann and Joris Poggensee presented the diverse offerings of the Digital Learning Campus (DLC), which offers over 100 online and face-to-face courses. In the context of current developments in higher education, as described by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Kiel University of Applied Sciences is well positioned. Its goal is to optimally prepare students for the future through individual learning development and the promotion of AI skills.

With such a wide range of interdisciplinary offerings and serious consideration of the digitalization of higher education, the Kiel University of Applied Sciences series of events shows that they are not just thinking outside the box - they are also taking concrete action to offer students a future-proof education. We can only hope that the IDW will produce many new ideas and perspectives this year too!