EXCELLENT TEACHING AND ADMINISTRATION IN START-UP UNIVERSITIES

Starting foreign spin-offs of well-established universities is often an important part of common internationalisation strategies. During the last decades this market has mainly been dominated by Anglo-Saxon universities, while now especially European countries are on the move promoting such programmes. The involved universities expect international reputation as well as long-term cooperation with the regarding countries on behalf of their own scientific junior staff. Companies are willing to support to ensure excellent trained local professionals. Teaching staff and professionals join to complete their portfolio of intercultural competencies in a globalised world. Not least the countries themselves grab the chance to evolve the partially underdeveloped university education.
Although usually the chosen countries only have a low density of existing universities, start-up universities often find themselves in hard competition with their kind, every single one with a reputable mother behind and trying to emphasize distinguishing characteristics. Being in contention for profitable students not only excellence in teaching is an important factor. Due to the lack of graduates during the first years after inaugurating the new campus evidence for excellent teaching can only hardly be given to potential students. Certification and accreditation can intrinsically only be predictors for high quality teaching. In most cases the good name of the associate university will have a strong influence. Often underestimated is the effect of the work of administrative departments, such as “Student Affairs” or “PR and marketing”, which form the first point of contact to potential applicants or research partners. They are therefore an essential part of start-up universities. The perceived quality of the services given by such departments to students, parents, partners, press or sponsors will be associated with the excellence of the start-up university at all. The challenges in the academic departments are tremendous as well. Without teaching staff used to the new conditions, suboptimal circumstances and partially immature curricula the need of a working and effective continuous improvement is essential during the start-up phase. To master the first months and years after start-up a holistic quality management system covering areas, administration and academic departments is as described indispensable. The implementation of such a system in a quickly changing environment is not an easy task and has to ensure that all affected parties are involved and motivated to live the new rules and guidelines. This process has unccessfully been completed in the German University of Technology (GUtech) in Muscat/ Sultanate of Oman based on evaluated approaches, strong integration of stakeholders and an intuitive and participative quality management system.