Teaching Award

Friedrich Schiller University Jena annually rewards excellent teaching concepts with Teaching Awards.

Teaching Award symbol: a golden paper plane flies ahead of three white paper planes

Image: adobe stock

The Teaching Award of the University of Jena

The teaching award is to recognize special commitment to teaching and make exemplary teaching concepts visible. All professors and academic employees at the University who are involved in teaching can be nominated. In addition to individuals, teams can be nominated as well. Direct applications are also accepted.

An award is presented for the best course concept. Since 2015, an additional award has been presented in a thematic priority area that changes every year.

The call for nominations for the Teaching Award is supported by the Sparkassenstiftung Jena-Saale-HolzlandExternal link.

General Teaching Award

Every year, the best course concept (€2,500*) is honoured with the Teaching Award by the Academy for Teaching Development's panel of experts.

The submission deadline for this year's teaching award nominations is 4 May 2025 (exclusion period).

_{*The prize money is earmarked for a specific purpose and must be used to further improve teaching at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena.}

Announcement of the Thematic Teaching Award 2025

In 2025, the thematic teaching award will be awarded for the following focus area
"Teaching-learning culture in times of AI".

More information on the content of this thematic focus will be published here soon.

Who selects the award winners?

The panel of experts of the Academy for Teaching Development selects the award winners on the basis of the nomination documents received.
What are the selection criteria?
Teaching concepts rated as outstanding in at least one of the following criteria can receive a teaching award:

innovative teaching methods and learning materials are used in a target group-specific manner

the didactic design of the course supports the learning process and success of the students in a special way

exemplary forms of interaction between teachers and students are used.
Who can be nominated?

All professors and academic employees working in teaching at Friedrich Schiller University Jena can be nominated. In addition to individual teachers, teams can also be nominated.
Who may nominate?
students (a minimum of five)

subject-specific student representative committees

academic staff

professors
How can nominations be submitted?

In addition to nominations by students and/or other teachers, direct applications are also possible.
A nomination form is available which must be completed in order to submit a nomination. The completed form, together with the other necessary nomination documents, must then be sent by email to the Academy for Teaching Development (ale@uni-jena.de) by the application deadline.

All annually updated call documents, including the nomination form, are usually released in February/March of the respective year.