TH OWL President Professor Jürgen Krahl and Vice President Professor Yvonne-Christin Knepper-Bartel welcomed Professor Klein to the Innovation Campus Lemgo on February 26. The meeting focused on how interdisciplinary approaches between technology and social sciences can be further strengthened.
In particular, they discussed opportunities for cooperation in teaching and continuing academic education. Among other things, they addressed the social challenges that accompany technological developments and the importance of social science skills for engineering education.
There was consensus that future degree programs and continuing education programs must be more interdisciplinary in order to best prepare students and professionals for complex requirements in their careers and society.
The planned Höxter Campus for the Common Good was also a topic of discussion at this meeting. As part of its strategic university development, TH OWL would like to realign its Höxter campus. The project is intended to make a concrete contribution to positioning the Höxter district as a "common good region," as defined in the district development concept. In this context, Professor Klein emphasized the importance of new economic perspectives: "I consider the common good economy to be meaningful because it measures economic success by how companies contribute to social cohesion and ecological sustainability."
The exchange underscored the shared interest in not viewing technology in isolation, but rather consistently embedding it in social, ethical, and societal contexts. Such discussions make an important contribution to the further development of innovative teaching concepts and to strengthening interdisciplinary cooperation in degree programs, teaching, and continuing education.