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ELLpH at the closing conference of the “Non-State Universities” funding program in Wittenberg

The project team, from left to right: Assistant Professor Dr. Daniela Schmitz, Olga Wagner, Professor Dr. Uwe Wilkesmann, Manfred Fiedler, Jan-Hendrik Ortloff, Professor Dr. Liudvika Leišytė, Dr. Anna-Lena Rose. © Uwe Wilkesmann​/​TU Dortmund University
The project team, from left to right: Assistant Professor Dr. Daniela Schmitz, Olga Wagner, Professor Dr. Uwe Wilkesmann, Manfred Fiedler, Jan-Hendrik Ortloff, Professor Dr. Liudvika Leišytė, Dr. Anna-Lena Rose.
On June 10, 2026, the ELLpH project team presented its findings at the closing conference of the “Funding Guidelines for Non-State Universities” (NISTA) funding program in Lutherstadt Wittenberg. In a cluster session, key findings were presented and discussed together with other projects.

On June 10, 2026, the entire ELLpH project team participated in the closing conference of the “Funding Guidelines for Non-State Universities” (NISTA) program of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The conference was organized by the coordinators of the meta-project at the Institute for Higher Education Research (HoF) at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and took place on the grounds of the Old University Leucorea in Lutherstadt Wittenberg.

The conference brought together the funded projects to present their research findings on the private higher education sector in Germany and to reflect on them collectively. Topics discussed included developments in the sector, relationships with social and institutional environments, issues of communication and targeting specific audiences, as well as research activities at non-state universities.

The ELLpH team presented selected findings from the research project as part of a cluster session. Together with two other projects from the funding line, key findings were presented and thematic intersections between the projects were discussed.

The conference provided an excellent setting for exchange among the projects as well as for further discussions about the insights gained and their significance for research and practice. At the same time, it became clear just how diverse and heterogeneous the sector of non-state higher education institutions is and what perspectives emerge from a comparative analysis with state universities.