Realizing projects across national borders
Our university is involved in numerous European projects and partnerships. This holds a great deal of potential, but often also poses challenges for those involved. Juliane Vopel is currently setting up an in-house consulting service. The OVGU Master's graduate in International Vocational Education has been working as an in-house consultant at the university since July 2023. In the first 10 months of her work, the focus was on researching networking potential and establishing contacts with our European partners and local stakeholders. She tells editor Ines Perl what she has planned for the future.
You are currently setting up an in-house consulting service. Who can contact you?
As an in-house consultant, I am currently setting up a new consulting service that can be used by all university employees and students to implement international projects quickly and efficiently.
Can you please give a few examples?
For example, I am supporting the implementation of a micro class on gender-competent education for sustainable development (GBNE), which students from other universities will soon be able to attend. I am also working on a concept to establish a language café that will improve the English language skills of administrative staff by enabling them to exchange ideas with colleagues from our partner universities.
Why was it necessary to set up the advice center?
In commercial enterprises, internal advisory units have been in place for a number of years, providing an interface between project initiators and the implementation of projects. This principle has not yet been established at universities. However, such an advisory service has advantages such as increased project efficiency and higher quality. Our university is involved in numerous European projects and partnerships. In particular, joining the European university alliance EU GREEN holds great potential. At the same time, however, there are also hurdles that need to be proactively overcome through the consultancy service.
You talk about hurdles. What hurdles might these be?
They can be language barriers, but also cultural differences between our European partners that need to be overcome. It is also often difficult to find the right contact person at the other universities. Thanks to its proximity to the partner universities, Inhouse Consulting can quickly locate a contact and pass them on.
How does a consultation work? What do you do as an in-house consultant?
In-house consulting is tailored to the needs of the target group and the scope of the project. The consulting process starts with an initial meeting in which the idea is presented by the initiator. This is followed by research and a potential analysis by the consultant, i.e. me. I make a recommendation for action and suggest further steps. This is followed by further consultations with specific tools to support implementation. For example, project management tools, stakeholder analyses or support with time management are offered.
Who can contact the advice center?
All OVGU employees and students can contact me. I also try to incorporate requests from local stakeholders into projects. For example, the state capital Magdeburg, SWM or the Netzwerk Zukunft Sachsen-Anhalt, with whom we work together on various event formats.
You explicitly highlighted EU GREEN - how does EU GREEN fit in here?
The project I work on is called Transfer Europe and is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD. In it, we are working on projects that are not dealt with in EU GREEN. For example, in:takt pop-ups are to be set up at three other EU GREEN universities as part of a project.
How can I contact you?
The offer can be carried out digitally, but also on the premises of the OVGU. A consultation appointment can be booked online.
Thank you for the interview.