Organisational Development – "Freiraum"

News about the Project

12/02/2026 - Start of work in the three editorial groups Governance, Organisation and Cross-Faculty Cooperation

After the Senate had already discussed the work assignment for the Governance Editorial Group at its January meeting, the composition of the Organisation and Interfaculty Cooperation Editorial Groups was presented at the February meeting.
All three work assignments in the Governance, Organisation and Interfaculty Cooperation Editorial Groups have now been finalised, and the Editorial Groups will start their work in stages by mid-April. Each editorial group consists of 8 to 10 members and will consult various experts from across the university on the various topics throughout the next six months.
The following documents provide detailed information on the editorial groups' work assignments:
Redaktionsgruppe Governance
Redaktionsgruppe Organisation
Redaktionsgruppe Fakultätsübergreifende Zusammenarbeit
The project committees are involved through monthly meetings, pit stops are planned for feedback with the steering group, and the President reports regularly on the project's progress to the Senate.
On the 8th of July 2026, from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm a university-wide event will be held in a hybrid format to present and discuss the results of the editorial group's work to date.
The plan is for the editorial groups to complete their work in November, after which consultation with the university committees and staff representatives will begin.
03/12/2025 - Unanimous vote in favour of the Freiraum project at the Senate meeting

Following a successful consultation phase within the Freiraum Project, a revised structural and conceptual paper and a paper on the fundamental principles of the change process were drawn up and submitted to the Senate for a first reading at its November meeting. The resolution was passed unanimously at the Senate meeting on the 3^rd of December 2025. This resolution marks the end of the second phase of the Freiraum project. Phase 3, which focuses on implementation planning, will begin in January 2026.
29/10/2025 - University Assembly

A key element of the consultation phase of the project was the university assembly held on the 29^th of October 2025, at which representatives of the organisational units, staff councils and students, as well as all members and affiliates of the university, had the opportunity to find out more and actively participate in the discussion.
16/07/2025 – 17/07/2025 - University Day

On the 16^th and 17^th of July 2025, the FHP University Day took place at the Stober Estate, where over 100 university members gathered to discuss the future organisational structure of the FHP together with the members of the Advisory Board.
12/02/2025 - Kick-off

On the 12^th of February 2025, our organisational development project, Projekt Freiraum/FHP 2.0, was launched under the motto "Die FHP von morgen mitgestalten".

The project at a glance

Inspired by the review and recommendations of the German Council of Science and Humanities, the FH Potsdam will reform its organisational structure in the coming years. A concrete concept for this is to be developed by the end of 2026 and implementation will begin in 2027.

Goal

The aim is to secure the future viability of the FHP and to create the freedom to drive forward strategic development.

Duration

The project will run for the duration of the university contract (2024 to 2028).

Structure & participation

The project structure provides for working and decision-making bodies with specific roles and responsibilities and continuous involvement of the university public.

Strategic reorganisation at the FHP: Initial situation

The FHP is facing a significant development: in order to help shape the world of tomorrow and remain successful and capable of acting as a university, it will reduce the number of its basic organisational units.

The idea of interdisciplinary learning and research , with its unusual combination of information science and engineering, socio-cultural and design degree programmes, was already in place when the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam was founded and has been a recurring theme throughout the university's development. Since its foundation, the FHP has grown significantly. It has differentiated itself in terms of content, but has basically retained its basic structure of five faculties.

In its structural and development planning 2021 to 2025 (StEP 2025), the university has set itself the goal of working on the transformation of society with both specialist expertise and interdisciplinary interface skills as a unique selling point and has formulated corresponding development goals for the areas of study and teaching, research, transfer and continuing education as well as with regard to infrastructure and cooperation. However, day-to-day work shows that the existing structures, with their high use of resources for self-administration and few synergies, inhibit interdisciplinary collaboration.

In 2022/23, the German Council of Science and Humanities assessed the state's universities on behalf of the state government and recommended that the FHP: "Following the growth of recent years ... undertake a strategic consolidation" in university development . "In addition to the objectives set out in the StEP 2025, the Council of Science and Humanities considers a reform of the internal organisation, a streamlining of the range of courses offered and their stronger alignment with the strategic requirements of the university, a stronger interdisciplinary networking of teaching, research and transfer, particularly along the three profile lines, as well as an intensification of cooperation with universities, scientific institutions and commercial enterprises to be central to this. The key prerequisites for this are strengthening the university management's ability to steer and the release of resources and their strategic reutilisation. The upcoming generational change offers an excellent opportunity to further develop the university on the path it has already taken, which should definitely be utilised." (S. 319)

According to the Council of Science and Humanities, the small-scale structure of the FHP – with five departments and a manageable size of the university – results in "an unnecessarily high level of self-administration, which manifests itself in multiple functions, especially among professors" and "has an inhibiting effect on the interaction and interdisciplinary cooperation between the individual subjects – which the university strives for". He sees an opportunity to make the FHP fit for the future as an agile organisation by overcoming this fragmentation and "strongly recommends at least reducing the number of departments by merging them appropriately" (p. 320f.).

What happens when

Two sub-projects are planned:

The first sub-project is dedicated to conceptualisation and implementation planning (duration: Q1 2024 to Q4 2026).
The second sub-project deals with the actual implementation of the agreed structural reform, which is scheduled to begin in 2027.

Project Feedback

Do you have any questions or suggestions regarding "Freiraum"? You can submit your feedback here (anonymously if you wish). The feedback will be collected and - depending on the topic - discussed in the various project committees.

Impressions: Kick-off organisational development project "Freiraum"

On the 12^th of February 2025, we kicked off our "Freiraum" organisational development project under the motto "Helping to shape the FHP of tomorrow". Together, we collected and discussed ideas and provided initial impetus. Below you will find an insight into the event.