Not only are we celebrating 20 years of TUM School of Management, but also our Managing Director Barbara Tasch’s 15-year anniversary. Barbara has tackled many ground-breaking projects, such as the launch of the Heilbronn Campus. One of her latest projects, involves the TUM School of Management Strategy 2026, in which she aims to align the university's strategic goals towards contributing to a better world. “What major social challenges are we going to face in the next decade?”, this question served as the cornerstone for the new strategic focus. But there’s more: In addition to her work as Managing Director for the TUM School of Management, Barbara Tasch is entrusted with the project leadership for the “Ministerial Incubator” of the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts for a period of twelve months starting September 2022. We talked with her about her projects, visions, and experiences at the TUM School of Management and beyond.

The achievements for the TUM School of Management

Since its foundation in 2002, the TUM School of Management has focused on cutting-edge research and teaching at the interface of management and technology. Over the years, the university has developed substantially and is increasingly achieving top positions in German and international business school rankings. In 2015, Barbara Tasch was appointed Managing Director of the TUM School of Management. The two most important milestones she has shaped and pushed forward were the Triple Crown accreditation in 2017 and the launch of the Heilbronn Campus in 2018.

Beyond that, the growth of the faculty over the past seven years represents a significant achievement for Barbara. “Currently, we have more than 50 professors and almost 6,000 students. It's great to be able to participate in this growth, but also the overall positioning and further internationalization of the TUM School of Management”,  she says.

Life as Managing Director of TUM School of Management

“I have an incredibly interesting and varied job, which also varies geographically due to the different locations of the university. Of course, it involves a lot of communication. Yet concentrated, strategic project work is also part of my daily routine. In addition, like many others, I am often faced with new challenges.“ Managing this balancing act, Barbara says, is exciting and challenging in a fantastic way, even after all these years.

According to the Managing Director, it's the people she engages with on a daily basis, that give her the strength and motivation to keep striving. “It is, after all, a people business, and I find it incredibly attractive to work here with super smart and clever people who are always keen to move the organization forward“. For Barbara Tasch, this aspect goes hand in hand with another cornerstone that marks the foundation of any successful collaboration – and that is to inspire and be inspired on a daily basis.

Strategy 2026: Transforming towards a better world

Barbara took the lead in coordinating the development of the new strategy, which was unveiled in November 2021. “One of our central aspirations behind this task was to contribute to a better world. It is something that gives me tremendous joy because I find it absolutely rewarding,“ she states. The topics of digitalization, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and globalization will be particularly relevant for the school’s future. That also includes a personal matter close to her heart – namely, the further internationalization of the TUM School of Management. The aim is for this to take place in all areas of the faculty: “Be it through a diverse student body, who come from all over the world to find an ideal educational scenario with us. But also with our faculty itself, where the topic of internationalization remains a focus in the area of visiting professors, postdocs, and doctoral students. And I enjoy having colleagues from all over the world in the school`s administration.“

For the future of the TUM School of Management, she aspires to see the institution growing its focus on the interface of management and technology. “When I envision the TUM School of Management in 2030, I want it to flourish and expand its reputation as a home for excellent students, scientists, and entrepreneurs. I want everyone to know that if you aspire to work at the intersection of management and technology, then the TUM School of Management is your institution of choice. And that is regardless of whether you come as a student, doctoral candidate, visiting scholar, scientist, professor, or employee.”

Hightech Agenda Bavaria: Bringing the brightest minds to Bavaria

Alongside her work as Managing Director, Barbara Tasch was asked by the Bavarian Ministry of Science and Arts to co-lead the Hightech Agenda Bayern. With the High-Tech Agenda Bavaria – Germany's most exceptional technological offensive – the Bavarian State wants to prepare for the coming decades. To this end, the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts invests a total of 3.5 billion euros in artificial intelligence, super tech (quantum technology, aerospace, cleantech), a renovation and acceleration program for universities, and an initiative to boost small and medium-sized enterprises by 2023. “I am excited for my new task to support the Bavarian Ministry in creating an excellent future-oriented environment for science and teaching” says Barbara Tasch.

One-thousand new professorships and 13,000 new study places are also planned as part of a leading-scientists-program. The Technical University of Munich operates as one of the hotspot<s>s</s> in this regard, with its research centers for robotics and artificial intelligence (TUM Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence), life sciences (TUM Campus Straubing for Biotechnology and Sustainability), and aerospace (TUM Department of Aerospace and Geodesy).

About Barbara Tasch

Barbara Tasch graduated from the Georg-August-UniversityGöttingen and the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the Netherlands. She is an experienced Managing Director in Higher Education and works at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Formerly, she was Program Manager at the University of Passau, where she coordinated the Bologna process