The Nexus Between Undergraduate and Graduate Reforms

Aimed at Ph.D. programs in German, this article offers a broad framework to discuss the urgent issues facing our programs to stem the tide of (possible or even likely) disinvestment in German in times of fiscal hardship. Many conversations on suitable reforms tend to be held separately by different stakeholders - teaching-focused faculty or language directors and research-focused faculty or graduate directors respectively. This article proposes to tackle reforms in undergraduate and graduate education in tandem, as we enhance undergraduate programs and socialize our graduate students in this student-focused effort in the hope of stimulating more ideas and concrete individualized plans to strengthen programs within their specific institutional contexts. The focus for the readership of Die Unterrichtspraxis is on improving undergraduate education coupled with robust cocurricular activities and on educating graduate students by emphasizing graduate students' role as teachers within the institutional learning environment. The other dimension is to build strong competencies in (educational) technology and digital literacy for both undergraduate and graduate students. In their role as future faculty members, graduate students will be the stewards of ongoing holistic reform that dynamically and nimbly adjusts to changing geopolitical and market conditions facing German.