History of IÖB
The Institute for Economic Education (IÖB) at Bismarckstr. 31 in Oldenburg was established in 2005. Professor Kaminski was definitive in creating the affiliated institute with his decades-long work in Economic Sciences and its teaching, for which he was awarded the title of professor in 1981. For more than 20 years, Professor Kaminiski and his team undertook significant work in Lower Saxony to establish Economic Education as a subject for teacher trainees as well as a training area for teachers’ continued professional development. IÖB’s creation as an affiliated institute is attributed to a number of factors, including the complex and, in part, medium-term to long-term third party projects; cross-border teacher training courses leading to official qualifications across Germany, ones that were supported by a complex internet-based training platform; and factors relating to personnel policy.
2004-2007: Creation and expansion
The legal framework to create the Institute for Economic Education as an affiliated institute of the University of Oldenburg was prepared in 2004. After the creation of GmbH (German company with limited liability), IÖB signed a cooperation agreement with the University of Oldenburg signed and approved by the University Senate in the autumn of 2004. The preamble of the agreement states that IÖB GmbH should facilitate practical research and development as well as continued teacher professional development in Economic Education at a national and international level. The founding director of the institute was Professor Hans Kaminski with Katrin Eggert as the Managing Director. Among the important supports and members of the Supervisory Board were Dr. Werner Brinker (then CEO of EWE AG) and Dr. Jörg Bleckmann (then CEO of the Oldenburgische Landesbank AG). On its creation, the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture provided the IÖB with initial funding. Close cooperation between the University’s Institute for Economic Education (today: IfÖB), something that continues on into the present day, and the affiliated institute was and is central component of the cooperation with the University. The IÖB also established and has continued to develop close ties with wigy e. V.
2008-2019: Consolidation and establishment
Given IÖB’s successful work in research and development, the institute was awarded institutional funding from the state of Lower Saxony from 2008. The legal status of IÖB changed on 01.01.2009 to a German gGmbH (non-for-profit limited liability company).
2008 saw the introduction of a five-year endowed professorship for Economic Education specialising in Careers Guidance, a post filled by Professor Rudolf Schröder. This professorship was included in the University’s staffing index in mid-2013. In 2011, Professor Dirk Loerwald was assumed the W3 professorship for Economics Education, succeeding Professor Kaminski. Between 2013 and 2019, Loerwald was also Deputy Academic Lead of the affiliated institute. Successful university teaching appointments and the corresponding dual membership meant that IÖB and IfÖB joint staff organisational structure was put on a good footing for the future. Content was also developed during this phase with many national and international projects being conducted, ones that had a high practical orientation as well as a fine balance between theory and practice.
From 2019: Continuation and expansion
The leadership of the institute transferred from Professor Hans Kaminski to Professor Loerwald on 01.07.2019. From this date, Dr. Michael Koch, who has been working at the affiliated institute from the start, is Deputy Managing Director and Deputy Academic Lead. As a relatively young institute, the IOB has also handled its first leadership transition well. The next phase of its development seeks to retain its tried-and-tested successes and build on them with elements that are sustainable for the future. There have been no changes to the fundamental structure of IÖB. However, future research and development projects will be a greater focus on empirical teaching and learning research. IÖB has gained initial experience in a variety of fields (qualitatively/quantitatively). In more concrete terms: this future will be concerned with embedding this research more systematically in projects and within the actual structure of the institute. An agreement has been reached with the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science (MWK) which sets targets supporting and funding this expansion.
