Quality Management

All degree programs in Germany are subject to an accreditation procedure in which the quality of teaching and learning is assessed by external experts. In 2016, the School's bachelor's and master's programs were successfully re-accredited until 30 September 2023 by the accreditation agency ACQUIN.

In Mannheim, all degree programs are accredited by a multi-stage procedure based on the peer review principle. For successful accreditation, the profile and concept of the degree programs, which have to be aligned with the desired qualification and learning outcome (curriculum, modularization, admission, etc.), the the program’s studyability, the examination system, the resources in terms of personnel, equipment, and space as well as a concept for sustainable quality assurance and the ongoing enhancement of the degree programs are decisive. All these aspects are reviewed by way of extensive documentation as well as on-site by an expert group.

The courses taught at the School of Humanities are regularly evaluated and the results are published in aggregated form. As an essential instrument for quality management, course evaluations promote the open exchange between students and teachers. Students also have the opportunity to make suggestions for the further development of the questionnaires and for the design of the courses on offer.

The School of Humanities uses the web-based plagiarism detection service Ouriginal to check documents such as seminar papers and final theses for plagiarism. The documents are compared with a database of scientific texts and possible matches are highlighted. The check provides a comprehensive list of all sources found together with the respective degree of identity in the wording.

On this basis, pre-defined criteria can be used to assess whether a submitted work is a plagiarism or not.