Application deadlines
The next student intake will be in the Winter Semester. The application deadlines are: BA: 15th of July and MA: 15th of May.
Congratulations to all our graduates of the department!
On 4th of May 2024, the Department of Politics and Public Administration celebrated its successful graduates and said goodbye to them in a wonderful graduation ceremony. Our head of department Prof. Dr. Anke Hoeffler looked back on the time of study and praised the graduates. Afterwards the certificates were awarded and the best theses were presented. Some imressions can be found here. We congratulate all our graduates and wish them all the best for the future.
LakeMUN2024:
A successful debut in Konstanz
On 17th - 19th of May, students from our department organized the first major Model United Nations (MUN) conference in the history of our city. Model United Nations (MUN) are simulations of the United Nations in which students take on the roles of diplomats. This year, almost 170 participants took part to discuss social nd political topics. The participants were able to relax and network during an evening together at the water sports centre. The successful conclusion of the MUN was celebrated with a Diplomatic Ball. You can find a detailed report here. If you are interested in planning the next Model United Nations (MUN) in Konstanz, please contact nazan.elhadidi@uni-konstanz.de.
Top result in the Shanghai Global Ranking 2023
1st place in Germany, 38th place worldwide
In the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2023, the University of Konstanz achieved the 1st place nationwide in the category "Political Sciences". With the 38th place, the department reaches the worldwide top 50. These results reinforce the department's claim to be a top location for political science and public administration in Germany. The department was able to even surpass its very good results from the previous year (2022: 42nd place globally; 2nd place nationally). In the category "Public Administration", the University of Konstanz achieved, as in the previous year, a place in the global ranking group 51-75. Among German universities, this corresponds to ranking group 2-3 and is also an improvement compared to the previous year (2022 ranking: group 3-4 nationally).
The latest department
newsletter No. 34 is released
The department newsletter No. 34 has been published!
You can download the newsletter here.
Politics and Public Administration - Our Mission - Our Research
The Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Konstanz is one of the largest social science departments in Germany. We are recognized for excellent research and teaching in four areas of expertise: (i) democracy and public policy, (ii) international studies (iii) management and public administration, as well as (iv) data and methods. We place our students in top positions in academia, and the public, private and non-profit sectors – in Germany, Europe and worldwide.
Projects of the Digital Governance Lab attract attention in media, politics and science
The research projects of the Digital Governance Lab headed by Prof. Dr. Ines Mergel are generating increasing attention in the media, politics and academia. In particular, the project "Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age" and the accompanying research of the "Work4Germany Fellows" enjoy enormous interest due to their current practical relevance.
Already in the past, the Digital Governance Lab, as one of the leading institutions in public administration research, distinguished itself by the practical relevance of its research, and the work is often directly implemented in numerous administrative fields and public administration science teaching. This is also the case with two current research projects by Prof. Dr. Ines Mergel:
1. Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age
The project group led by Prof. Dr. Ines Mergel defined eight competencies that were developed in focus groups and, based on these, created an Open Educational Resource (OER) syllabus to integrate these digital competencies into public administration teaching. During the winter semester, the curriculum was tested in parallel at Harvard Kennedy School, the University of Tartu in Estonia, and the University of Konstanz. The team is now in the process of further contextualizing and localizing the syllabus, this means in particular translating it and inserting case studies from the respective context. The plan is to translate everything into German, Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese, for which applications for research are currently being submitted. In June, Prof. Dr. Ines Mergel's team will offer a free master class for professors who want to implement the curriculum in their countries.
You find further information on the website of the project.
2. Accompanying research of the Work4Germany Fellow
The Work4Germany fellowship program, operated by the start-up Digital Service4Germany, supports public administration employees in integrating modern working methods and relevant future competencies into their everyday work and accompanies strategic projects of the federal ministries to transform work culture. The work of the government-owned start-up is under the auspices of the Bundeskanzleramt (Federal Chancellery) and cooperates with the project team led by Prof. Dr. Ines Mergel, who designed the program's accompanying program and conducts the onsite research.
Among other things, the fellows and their tandem partners from the federal ministries will be interviewed before and after their program run to understand how new work practices and methods (e.g. design thinking, agile, change management) can be incorporated into the routines of the administration. Likewise, the syllabus developed in the Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age project mentioned above is being applied in the Fellowship program's companion program. The Tagesspiegel reported in several articles (13.04.2021, 19.04.2021) about the work of Prof. Dr. Ines Mergel.