Modern Learning Experience Portal

With the eGov-Campus, the first web-based, nationwide education and training platform with high-quality online courses on current topics of digitization in the public sector was launched in October 2020. The courses are offered in the form of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and blended learning scenarios, can be integrated into the teaching and curricula of universities, and can be used at any time and free of charge.

“In the public sector, there is a need for up to 400,000 digital experts in Germany by 2023. With the eGov-Campus, we want to create a contemporary, innovative education and training program for the public sector to address this need,” explains Holger Hünemohr, Chairman of the eGov-Campus Advisory Board and Professor of Administrative Informatics at RheinMain University of Applied Sciences.

“After recognizing the need for additional digital experts in public administration, we took action in the state of Hesse and advanced the eGov-Campus education platform as one element of our education initiative in the area of digitization,” adds the CIO of the state of Hesse, State Secretary Patrick Burghardt.

The courses are designed and delivered by leading universities and colleges in the field of eGovernment. The inclusion of current case studies and important eGovernment players ensures that the knowledge imparted is practical and application-oriented. The development of the courses is accompanied scientifically by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft e.V. (Donors’ Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany), which is also co-developing the AI Campus, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (Fraunhofer FOKUS), among others, in order to ensure high didactic and content quality.

The top-class advisory board of the eGov-Campus, in which five universities, five universities of applied sciences and eight leading administrative practitioners from the field of eGovernment are represented, accompanies the project and curates the individual educational modules with regard to their content quality and online usability at the universities as well as their innovative teaching and learning concepts.

The eGov-Campus project to develop the eGovernment education and training platform was initiated by the IT Planning Council at the suggestion of the state of Hesse and will be funded with 2 million euros from the digitization budget provided by the federal and state governments in 2020 and 2021. The development of the eGov Campus is accompanied by FITKO (Federal IT Cooperation) as the operational substructure of the IT Planning Council. The Minister for Digital Strategy and Development in the Hessian State Chancellery is responsible for project implementation. The RheinMain University of Applied Sciences is responsible for coordinating the content and developing the platform’s website in cooperation with the KI Campus. While Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster is driving the development of an accredited master’s program and developing and coordinating the use of the platform, Hasso Plattner Institute is providing the technical learning platform and associated infrastructure. PIIPE from NEOCOSMO forms the entry portal to the learning platform.

Currently, the following first five learning modules on different eGovernment topics are under development for the launch of the platform, more will follow.