2-99 (June 1999) Education and Training by Andreas Baumert Germany

In 1991 the University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule) in Hanover was the first German academic institution to teach technical writing. Since then our curriculum has been subject to changes and it still is: Developing a curriculum is an ongoing process.

The curriculum currently puts its main emphasis on writing, computer science and visual arts. Other fields are interviewing skills, mechanical and electrical engineering, norms, law, business management, didactics and some more. The course lasts four years or eight semesters. It is oriented towards the specific needs of information design in business and industry. Therefore students spend nearly two semesters as interns in documentation departments as staff writers or in other areas related to the profession.

Despite the permanent changes to every curriculum we now need to meet some new requirements. One major challenge to every German university is to think about international degrees.

 

International Degrees

Traditionally a course at a German Fachhochschule ends with a diploma, which in our degree course has the title of "Diplom Redakteur" or "Diplom Redakteurin." Very few people know about that degree outside German-speaking countries. On the other hand the MA and bachelor degree are well known nearly everywhere. Consequently, if companies around the world are not familiar with the German diploma, applicants with an MA or a bachelor degree are in a much better position than graduates of a German university. This weakens a German applicant’s position if international competition between universities is a factor in the selection process.

Our degree course in technical writing needs to meet that challenge. We have just started to discuss that issue. I cannot foresee the results but I hope that we will have an international degree for technical writers within the next five or six years. To achieve this goal will be much more complicated than it seems to be:

• International degrees need an accreditation. It is much more than a mere exchange of titles. We will need to completely redesign the curriculum.
• If we are really thinking about an MA in technical writing, we have to use English as the course language for at least during the last two years.
• The master degree course will expand the course from four to five years.
• All changes need to take place without additional resources.

 

The Market

Companies hiring our graduates, and students starting their own businesses, tell us about the market's requirements toward our curriculum. The market often wants universities to take into account the latest version of specialized software, operating systems and so on.

That seldom makes sense, and neither is it possible: time and resources are limited. When, for example, I wanted to use Macromedia Director in one of my courses, I first needed to go for training myself. It took me a lot of time to acquire the basic skills for that one software package. We cannot answer every request from the market.

On the other hand, teaching does need to consider new developments. These may be new techniques, such as JavaScript or XML, or more general changes such as the possible transition from technical writing to information design; changes that, as some argue, cover much more than writing.

The latest development is teleteaching which means providing correspondence courses via the Internet. Professor Rolf Schwermer has successfully finished the first courses. At German universities, he is the leading developer in the area of teleteaching for technical writers. For more information, visit the webpage: http://telekurs.fh-hannover.de/

 

Internal Developments

We do not concentrate on technical writing alone when we talk about future developments. Our degree course also belongs to a department which has its own effects on our work. That department - science of information and communication - is home for biological documentation as well as for librarians. With new courses such as public relations and journalism, it will develop a center of excellence for information specialists.

Of course, a joint department also means joint administration of resources. One requirement is to match at least some content from one degree program with the content from other programs. In the past it was nearly impossible to find any match between librarians and technical writers. Today, some librarians also think of themselves as information specialists. From that point of view, common elements in different curricula make sense.

 

The Technical Writing Program in the Years Ahead

Let me conclude with two remarks:

1. In Germany, more than 10 academic institutions have started degree courses for technical writing within the last eight years. None of them share the same preconditions.
2. Traditionally, German academic programs seldom competed in an international market. With technical writing programs this will change substantially within a couple of years.

That's what our team successfully started with.  

"transline Deutschland - Übersetzungsdienst für technische Übersetzung"