Research

The HdBA not only considers itself an institution for academic training and further education but explicitly a research university. This also plays an essential role when recruiting professors. The senate checks every vacancy to see how a new professorship can advance the development of the research profile. Research activities of staff members are supported by the university both in terms of administration as well as through incentives.

The HdBA has defined three areas of focus of applied research and development in a collegial decision-making process, which are aligned with the strategic orientation of the university and the associated goals of the National Employment Agency. The aim is to sharpen the research profile of the HdBA so as to make it transparent both internally and externally, to identify interfaces for collaboration and to enable targeted research funding.

The areas of focus for applied research and development form an umbrella concept which is given specific form through research and development projects and programmes. This is to ensure that research at the HdBA remains open for future development as well as the object of innovative further education programmes, and that researchers' interests and profiles can be considered appropriately.

The connecting element is the three-way combination of counselling, placement and integration, which is reflected in the following three areas of focus in applied research and development:

The labour market is experiencing radical change at the beginning of the 21st century. One driving force behind this is a number of long-term, fundamental trends: The consequences of demographic change are becoming more noticeable, markets more international, work more mobile, more flexible yet more volatile, and the information and knowledge-based society is becoming increasingly important, as is technical development in goods production and the service sector. The research focus "Employment and transitions in a changing labour market"  examines the impact of these trends on the labour market and advisory services, in particular on educational and career transitions.

Interactive labour market services, intensive in terms of communication, are a balancing act which can be defined by individual/situative and organised/standardised polar concepts. The focus on "governance of labour market services" places the micro, meso and macro level of such interactions at the centre of the analyses and examines their institutional conditions from there on. Development dynamics and governance of labour market services, intensive in terms of communication, are analysed both theoretically and empirically, addressing a variety of questions and seen from the perspective of different academic disciplines.

The basis of a social security system lies in the Social State Principle. The Social State Principle enables and binds the legislator to structuring social security. Social parameters play a decisive role here. The emphasis on "Social protection and legal context" concentrates on economic, social and also political developments with regard to their impact on social security systems. Topics such as labour law and social legislation are addressed, as well as immigration and European Union law in terms of changes to social legislation and labour law.

One important matter for the HdBA is achieving the most effective interconnectedness of research and teaching. On the one hand, students can be intergrated into current research projects; on the other, experience gained in work placements or student dissertations can often provide new ideas for new areas of research.

The HdBA regularly holds series of lectures, academic colloquia and research congressesto present its work and to promote interaction in the "scientific community". The university also strives to expand the already successful acquisition of third-party funding of the last few years and to further increase the collaboration with partners - also from abroad.