HIS Hochschul-Informations-System eG

HIS Hochschul-Informations-System eG — commonly shortened to HIS — is a German software house dedicated to the IT needs of higher education. Headquartered in Hannover, it was founded in 1969 by the Volkswagen Foundation as a non-profit institution and was taken over in 1976 by the federal government and the federal states, which held the shares (one third federal, two thirds states). It was conceived as part of the German higher education system, intended to provide a long-term, continuously available service offering not driven by profit interests. Since 2 May 2014 HIS has operated as a registered cooperative (eingetragene Genossenschaft, eG), following a 2013 restructuring decision. The federal government sold its one-third stake to the states, and the cooperative form was chosen because its principles of self-administration and self-responsibility were judged particularly university-friendly: the institutions that use the software can exert direct influence and services and products can be provided on favourable terms. Members of the cooperative are more than 220 German higher education institutions; all members have equal voting rights in the General Assembly. HIS has been active in higher education IT since 1969 and specialises in university information systems. Its portfolio covers the entire software needs of universities in the student lifecycle and in the management of personnel and material resources. The web-based integrated software generation HISinOne has been in use since 2008 and is today used by a large share of member universities for campus and research management. The Hochschul-ERP provides university-specific resource management, integrating finance and personnel management. Earlier products included the examination operations system HISPOS (1978), from which an integrated HIS online portal developed in the areas of admission (QISZUL), student administration (QISSOS) and teaching, study and research (LSF). HIS also offers SaaS hosting, training programmes, service packages and individual consulting. Its governance is cooperative: the General Assembly is the central body, electing the Supervisory Board and the members of the advisory circles; the Supervisory Board appoints the Executive Board; and the advisory circles "Strategy" and "Development & Technology" link the universities to the HIS office. The organisation is divided into two directorates: "Product Management and Development" and "Projects and Commercial Services". HIS's research and higher education development activities were spun off: on 1 September 2013 the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW) was founded from the HIS Institute for Higher Education Research together with the HIS Higher Education Development department, and on 1 January 2015 all 16 federal states founded the HIS Institute for Higher Education Development e.V. (HIS-HE), into which the former HIS Higher Education Development department was transferred. The company has also faced criticism over data protection: according to Heise Online research, personal data of hundreds of thousands of students stored in HIS eG systems had been freely accessible online since 2011.

HIS was founded in 1969 by the Volkswagen Foundation (VolkswagenStiftung) as a non-profit institution. In 1976 it was taken over by the federal government and the federal states as shareholders: the federal government held one third and the states two thirds of the share capital. HIS was conceived as a component of the German higher education system, intended to guarantee a long-term, continuously available service offering not oriented towards profit interests. In September 2013 significant restructuring measures were decided, as a result of which HIS was converted into a cooperative. The federal government, which had previously held one third of the shares, sold these to the states. The cooperative organisational form was judged by the shareholders of the former HIS GmbH to be particularly university-friendly because of the principle of self-administration and self-responsibility. As users of the software, the universities are able to exert direct influence, and services and products can be provided on favourable terms. For these reasons a privatisation was rejected in favour of conversion into a registered cooperative. Since 2 May 2014 HIS has been a registered cooperative (eingetragene Genossenschaft). Members of the cooperative are more than 220 German higher education institutions. The central body of HIS eG is the General Assembly; the Executive Board and Supervisory Board of HIS eG are filled by representatives from universities. Besides providing administrative software, HIS eG supports its member universities in digitalisation, for example in implementing the Online Access Act (Onlinezugangsgesetz). With the founding of the cooperative in 2014, the field of activity of HIS eG concentrated on the development and provision of software solutions for university administration in Germany. Members of HIS eG are German state universities and the federal states, which have equal voting rights. The bodies and committees of HIS eG are filled by representatives from the members. The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 to 2023 meant a change in digital working at universities. Since then HIS eG has supported its members more strongly in digitalisation projects such as paperless workflows and location-independent working. HIS has been active in higher education IT since 1969 and, as the software house of the universities, specialises in university information systems. HIS covers the entire software needs of universities in the area of the student lifecycle and the management of personnel and material resources. Since 2008 the web-based integrated software generation HISinOne has been in use. Today a large share of member universities use HISinOne for campus and research management. The Hochschul-ERP provides university-specific resource management. The first basis for the administrative software was the "examination operations system" (HISPOS) in 1978. From this an integrated HIS online portal developed in the following years in the areas of admission (QISZUL), student administration (QISSOS) and teaching, study and research (LSF) with a web-based base architecture. With the development of HISinOne, the HIS products were moved to a modern technical basis in order to meet the requirements of university administration. On 1 September 2013 the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW) was founded by spinning off the HIS Institute for Higher Education Research together with the HIS Higher Education Development department from HIS GmbH. On 1 January 2015 all 16 federal states founded the HIS Institute for Higher Education Development e.V. (HIS-HE) and transferred the former HIS Higher Education Development department into this institute. HIS has also faced criticism: according to research by Heise Online, personal data of hundreds of thousands of students stored in the systems of HIS eG had been freely accessible online since 2011, including names, addresses, dates of birth and matriculation numbers of students.

• 2020

  The coronavirus pandemic (2020–2023) changes digital working at universities; HIS eG increasingly supports members in digitalisation projects.

• 2015

  On 1 January, all 16 federal states found the HIS Institute for Higher Education Development e.V. (HIS-HE), transferring the former HIS Higher Education Development department into it.

• 2014

  On 2 May, HIS becomes a registered cooperative (eingetragene Genossenschaft); members are more than 220 German higher education institutions.

• 2013

  In September, significant restructuring measures are decided, converting HIS into a cooperative; the federal government sells its one-third stake to the states.

• 2013

  On 1 September, the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW) is founded by spinning off the HIS Institute for Higher Education Research and the HIS Higher Education Development department.

• 2008

  The web-based integrated software generation HISinOne enters use.

• 1978

  The examination operations system HISPOS forms the first basis for the administrative software.

• 1976

  Taken over by the federal government and the federal states as shareholders (one third federal, two thirds states).

• 1969

  HIS founded by the Volkswagen Foundation as a non-profit institution.

The cooperative software house of German higher education institutions, providing non-profit-oriented, university-specific campus management, research management and ERP software.

• HISinOne

  Web-based integrated software generation in use since 2008, covering campus management and research management.

• Hochschul-ERP

  University-specific resource management integrating finance and personnel management.

• HISPOS

  Examination operations system from 1978, the first basis for HIS administrative software.

• QISZUL

  Admission module of the integrated HIS online portal.

• QISSOS

  Student administration module of the integrated HIS online portal.

• LSF

  Teaching, study and research module of the integrated HIS online portal.

• HIS-SaaS

  Cloud offering providing the entire HIS world from hosting to updates.

1. 1HIS eG – Das Softwarehaus der Hochschulenhis.de
2. 2Hochschul-Informations-System – Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org
3. 3Hochschul-Informations-System – Wikidatawikidata.org