The range of courses complements the bachelor’s programs in European Culture and History of Ideas (EUKLID), Science – Media – Communication, German Literature, and Pedagogics. The diverse courses on TA provide students with an in-depth insight into the way technical and scientific innovations develop social, political, and cultural relevance. The normative and ethical evaluation of these innovations plays a major role here.

As an academic discipline, TA provides complementary knowledge to its neighboring disciplines. The goals of the discipline are ... 

• promotion and sensitization of young scientists to socio-political issues and challenges with regard to technology dynamics
• and imparting of inter- and transdisciplinary knowledge in the field of “Technology and Society.”

In this context, the intertwining of engineering and technical questions with societal-ethical issues plays an increasingly important role.

Without scientific and technological progress, the further development of our society and thinking about possible “futures” of our world would be almost inconceivable. Be it the progressive mechanization of production and economic processes or the digitalization of ever more areas of communication and life: New technological concepts play a – if not the – central role in shaping our world.

However, experience since the profound transformation of industrialization shows that scientific and technological progress not only improves our lives but that new technologies also bring unexpected and often undesirable consequences: Environmental problems, the consequences of global climate change, data misuse, or collapsing transport systems are well-known examples.

Recognizing the spectrum of possible impacts of technology at an early stage helps to make good use of the potential of progress and to minimize or even avoid risks. The relatively young field of technology assessment (TA) has embraced this goal and developed a wide set of methodological tools for analyzing and evaluating the consequences of technology.

The elective provides knowledge for comprehensive assessment of the social, cultural, and economic impacts of technologies. Students learn interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary methods for technology assessment, which they can systematically test in practical seminars. The course thus imparts practice- and application-oriented knowledge that enables students to deal with complex issues relating to the consequences of technology.

Today, these competencies are in demand in many fields of work such as political institutions, associations, educational and advisory institutions, and transfer organizations. Depending on the disciplinary orientation, e.g., in technical, natural science, or humanities fields, this opens up a wide range of employment opportunities for students in various sectors and areas.