TU Berlin's Transfer Certificate - A Program for Transfer, Transdisciplinarity, Participation, and Co-Creation

TU Berlin's new transfer certificate is awarded to students who have dealt with knowledge and technology transfer issues during their regular studies and can demonstrate practical skills. The program is inter- and transdisciplinary and open to all students. The contribution presents the certificate programme and explains how it contributes to the institutionalization of transdisciplinary approaches, provides more visibility for them and enables the university to fulfil its mission of pursuing science for the benefit of society. The certificate program ties in with the discourse about the Third Mission. According to this, universities not only have the task of conducting teaching and research, but should also fulfil their social responsibility through the transfer of scientific knowledge into application or the co-creative generation of new knowledge in transdisciplinary formats. The Third Mission is thus a problem-solving strategy for complex social challenges, above all the SGDs. As part of the program, participating students acquire relevant competencies and develop them further. In addition, the program offers students a wide range of networking opportunities. They get to know TU Berlin experts and exchange innovative ideas with committed students from various disciplines. In this way, participating students train to meet the demands of a changing job market in knowledge-intensive fields of work. Transfer activities of outstanding students are promoted and given visibility, e.g. by publishing students works. The certificate program consists of 18 credit points. It combines elements from the STEM disciplines with elements from the humanities. A special focus is placed on the application dimension. In a basic module, students learn theoretical references, methods and tools and develop their own approaches to solving social challenges. During this process, students are coached by practitioners from different fields and work with established approaches from practice. As a complement to the professional expertise that students acquire in their fields of study, the certificate program emphasizes the importance of inter- and transdisciplinary approaches in the sciences and beyond in business, politics and society. Based on an analysis of overarching competence requirements following Future Skills, Key Competences, Education for Sustainable Development and Professional Skills, the program guides students to reflect on their own competences and their role as academic professionals in their careers. Openness to all students, not only within the university but also from other universities, contributes to a critical reflection of disciplinary perspectives and promotes an understanding of ethical issues of responsibility. This reflection also has an impact on the university, as students carry new perspectives into their respective subject cultures and thus themselves act as change agents in a transformation process that integrates inter- and transdisciplinary perspectives.