Welcome to the Institute for Higher Education Management

Barbara Sporn

The Institute for Higher Education Management is part of the Department of Strategy and Innovation at WU and is led by Univ. Prof. Dr. Barbara Sporn.

IHM activities include research, teaching, policy advising and external engagement with different stakeholders, as well as involvement in international associations. Areas of interest at IHM combine theories of business and management applied to the complex organization of universities. With this focus, IHM provides insights for higher education scholars and practitioners but also beyond that for research and practice interested in expert and nonprofit organizational settings.

CV
Publications

NEWS

IHM Team

A great team get-together in a great place! As the academic year is drawing to a close, the IHM team is proud to look back to another successful year. The portfolio of achievements include Ana’s and Bernhard’s PhD completion, a rewarding teaching year with our students and partners, fruitful events and collaborations with the higher education community, and more!

Bachelor-/Masterthesis

Our Institute welcomes interest from students who would like to write their thesis under our supervision. The following topics are available for Bachelor’s and Master’s theses:

  • The impact of AI on teaching and learning quality

  • The impact of AI on student assessment

  • AI in knowledge and learning platforms

  • The influence of AI on strategy and decision making in organisations

  • Competitiveness and innovative capacity of higher education institutions

  • Leadership styles and their influence on organisational performance

  • Governance and performance management in (non-profit) organisations

  • Collaborations, alliances and mergers in (non-profit) organisations

  • Measuring sustainability performance in higher education institutions

You can find the guides to your thesis here.

Publication alert!

CYD

We are pleased to announce the publication of the chapter "Organizing for Social Impact in Universities in the DACH Region", co-edited by Barbara Sporn and Ana Godonoga. Access to the document can be found here.

Courses Summer Term 2025

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During the upcoming summer term we offer the following courses with interesting (guest-)lecturer:

LV 5304: Business Planning and Performance Management

LV 6426: Strategic Leadership

LV 6425: Fundamentals of Strategic Management and Leadership

LV 6191 + 6194: Strategie und Innovation

LV 4375 + 4768: Professional Development Workshop

The WU Course Catalogue for the winter term with dates and details can be found here.

Collaboration with UN World Food Programme

Group photo with the SIMC students who participated in the 2023 WU x WFP case study

© WFP/Johannes Schade

The Institute for Higher Education Management and the World Food Programme (WFP) agreed on a dynamic collaboration aimed at fostering innovation in the fight against global hunger.

The collaboration builds on the success of a previous partnership between WFP and the Institute for Higher Education Management, in which, for the past two years, students from the SIMC Master’s Programme, have contributed to WFP’s innovation and knowledge management work through recommendations around crucial areas such as culture, knowledge management approaches, governance, and innovative technology.

The partnership has proven mutually beneficial by offering students valuable opportunities for internships and networking.

The collaboration will extend to various domains, including joint publication and thesis collaboration, research projects, knowledge and expertise exchange, innovation research and exchange by leveraging the Innovation Accelerator’s experience, and the integration of real-world problem-solving into the Master’s Programme on Strategy, Innovation, and Management Control (SIMC) at WU.

We’re looking forward for much more to come!