https://www.mannheim.dhbw.de/dhbw-mannheim/organisation
This year, the MOBTS (“Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society”) was organized from June 22nd to 25th, 2022, for the first time by the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University in cooperation with ESC and the INDIS team in Mannheim. The conference was focused on the area “Management Education and Higher Education Research”. The conference itself took place in the multimedia facilities of the DHBW in Eppelheim (near Heidelberg). The international conference was able to welcome participants from over 12 countries (including the USA, Spain, Switzerland, Mexico, and New Zealand). During the conference, there was a very inspiring and pleasant working atmosphere in the air, which was reinforced by the diverse, interactive conference formats, small teams, and high-quality lectures. The participants could take away many new insights to improve their teaching and research and could expand their academic network. The hybrid concept of the conference combined face-to-face participation with virtual sessions. The whole conference was evaluated very well by the guest.
From the left: Prof. Dr. Kevin Lo (President of MOBTS), Markus Bell (Global Head of Vocational Training, SAP SE), Prof. Dr. Andrea Honal (scientific management Education Support Center), Robert Lahdo (site coordinator INDIS), Madeleine Kleine (HR Senior Projektmanager, SAP), Brandon Charpied (Executive Director of MOBTS)
The opening speech of the event was done by Prof. Dr. Georg Nagler who is the Rector of the DHBW Mannheim. He informed the guests about the study program of the DHBW, gave insight into the history of Mannheim, and talked about his own teaching experience. After this, many lectures, roundtables, panel discussions and interactive workshops from different educational areas to improve the quality of teaching and study conditions at universities were the main part of the conference. The speakers talked about exciting topics, such as the usage of VR and AR in teaching, portals such as Metaverse as new places of learning for students, or the consequences of the Corona crisis for universities. A special highlight was the keynote speech by the two HR experts for the IT company SAP which is a core cooperation partner of the DHBW. The two speakers, Madeleine Kleine and Markus Bell, reported how SAP is reacting to digital transformation, the requirements of higher education and functional learning and development in companies and what implications this will have for HRM for firms.
Rector Prof. Dr. Georg Nagler and Prof. Dr. Andrea Honal
Personal well-being and entertainment were not neglected either. The guests had different opportunities to get to know German cuisine better, visit Heidelberg, and take part in a wine tasting and a bachata dance lesson. This special entertainment program was very well received, especially the final event in the restaurant Flammkuchenhof in Heidelberg.
The DHBW and the MOBTS plan to cooperate in the future for other conference formats to improve higher education management for all academic stakeholders across their networks.
