The Office of Communications and Public Relations regularly deals with topics that are of particular importance to the University. These topics and the corresponding challenges are examined in detail and in depth over a period of about six months.
With around 8,000 staff working in teaching, research and administration, with 15 faculties and more than 4,500 students, the University of Münster provides countless opportunities for networking and teamwork – locally, nationally and internationally. From February to July 2023, the Communications and Public Relations Department conducted a six-month dossier to examine cooperation in its many facets and the corresponding opportunities and challenges.
Births, deaths, migration: every year since 1972 there have been fewer children being born than people dying. If we leave immigration out of the equation, the population has been shrinking for 50 years. Germany is in the middle of a demographic change affecting practically all areas of our lives. From February to July 2022, the Communications and Public Relations Department examined this process in its many facets and the corresponding challenges in a six-month dossier.
Fridays for Future, plastic waste in the oceans, renewable energies – sustainability is a much-discussed issue. We should treat natural resources with care and not live at the expense of future generations. Research undertaken at the University of Münster can make its contribution. In a six-month dossier from January to June 2021, we illuminated sustainability in its many facets.
The creation of knowledge and its transfer to society is part of the public cultural heritage and therefore a central goal of the University of Münster. Whether museums, senior guest programme and children's university, support for start-ups, teacher education or science communication: The University of Münster understands knowledge transfer as an active exchange. In a dossier, support department communication and public relations examined the topic in all its many facets from January to June 2020.
Promoting junior researchers plays a key role at the University of Münster. The University offers researchers a wide range of options – such as PhDs, graduate schools, junior research groups or associate professorships – in order for them to gain additional qualifications which prepare them for an academic career. For this reason, the Office of Communication and Public Relations has given an intensive and differentiated look at the topic from January to July 2019.
Whether it’s learning platforms such as Moodle, research portals like DigiBib or databases for research such as CRIS, digitalisation is making a lot of changes at Münster University. In the administration, the importance of the almost paperless office is growing. The University of Münster Press Office examined from January to July 2018 therefore the topic of "Digitalisation at Münster University" and the corresponding challenges in an intensive and differentiated manner.
A lot of staff and students at universities face special challenges when trying to achieve a balance between their family and their career or their studies. Münster University already offers a wide range of help, and this is due to be expanded. From October 2016 to April 2017 the University’s Press Office has therefore taken a detailed look at different aspects of the subject, and the challenges it involves, under the heading of “work-family balance”.
The University of Münster is characterized in both its teaching and research by a wide diversity of international activities. Internationalization, though, is not an end in itself, but contributes to the profile and competitiveness of the University. From October 2015 to May 2016 the press office of the University therefore devoted itself to the topic of “internationalisation”.