Distinguished visitors at Vöhlin Castle in Illertissen: The presidents of Bavaria’s universities of applied sciences, united under the umbrella organisation ‘Hochschule Bayern e.V.’, are meeting on 24 and 25 June 2010 for their annual summer retreat. On Friday, they presented their findings to the Minister of State for Research, Science and the Arts, Dr Wolfgang Heubisch, and Permanent Secretary Dr Friedrich Wilhelm Rothenpieler.

The Minister for Science was impressed by the beautiful setting at Vöhlin Castle in Illertissen, the new university academy (part of the new university centre) for the universities of Augsburg, Kempten and Neu-Ulm. Prof. Dr Uta M. Feser, President of Neu-Ulm University, introduced the venue: “The spirit of science now reigns at Vöhlins Castle”.

Topics discussed at the summer retreat included the amendment to the Higher Education Act, performance-based access (DuBay), which enables professionals without a school-leaving certificate to study at Bavarian universities, subject-specific university entrance qualifications for master craftsmen and women, and quality assurance in the planned part-time Bachelor’s degree programmes. A key priority is quality assurance in education at universities of applied sciences.