Digital education is a key area of action in the German federal government’s digital agenda and a key prerequisite for keeping Germany sustainable and competitive. As a cross-cutting economic and social topic, digitalisation requires a fundamentally broad, well-founded digital education. For that reason, Germany’s second-largest software firm began efforts back in 2007 to expand digital expertise at vocational schools and universities with its own University Relations Program.

“Every year we invest €50 million worth of support in our programme, ‘Digital Education for All’, to give vocational and university students access to market-leading software products,” said Software AG CEO Karl-Heinz Streibich recently.

Software AG’s University Relations Program provides students with digital education packages with e-learning offerings, video tutorials and teaching materials to build their knowledge on pioneering technology topics such as app programming, big data and process management as well as to help them gain practical experience with cutting-edge software. At the same time, pre-prepared teaching materials enable instructors to structure their courses without a lot of extra effort. Dr. André Miede, professor of computer science and director of the System Technology Lab (STL) at the HTW Saar University of Applied Sciences, commented, “On the whole, it is a win-win situation for us, the instructors and the students.”