We live our values.
We stand for responsibility for ourselves and others
We start from the educational ideal of a young person with a wide range of interests and education who
- is prepared to assume responsibility,
- leadership as a service to fellow human beings and society,
- is capable of changing its perspective and questioning its own construction of reality,
- is able to look “behind the scenes” of the seemingly self-evident on the basis of sound specialist knowledge and a good academic education,
- is willing to cross internal and external boundaries and to embrace new and unfamiliar things
and has thus acquired the ability to develop his or her own personality in the sense of lifelong learning.
We start from the ideal of a university teacher by vocation, who
- takes part in this development (even after graduation), encourages and challenges it,
- She has a passion for performance and excellent teaching and communicates this to her students,
- sees the university less as a place of instruction and more as a space to facilitate personal learning experiences and skills development,
- “is eager to learn new things and is interested in interdisciplinary exchange with his colleagues and interdisciplinary research,
- enjoys innovation and experimentation and
- is prepared to understand the didactic and methodological challenge of passing on experience and knowledge as a joint construction of reality between teacher and learner and at the same time as an opportunity for their own further development.
We start from the ideal of a university that
- sees itself – literally – as a service provider for students, the economy and society,
- which seismographically senses developments and trends through its competitive orientation and
- The university is integrated into research and teaching and thus becomes a marketplace between the needs of those seeking education and the needs of those seeking qualified employees.
Our teaching is explorative, interdisciplinary and practice-oriented
Qualification objectives, content and teaching and learning methods are coordinated and, as integral components of a didactic concept, open up the opportunity for students to assume (leadership) responsibility at an academic level in their profession and in society. This is helped by the fact that teachers go beyond imparting knowledge and skills to mentor students, are aware of their responsibility for students’ development opportunities and see themselves as part of a community of learners and teachers.
Our didactics are characterized by the triad of instruction, construction and reflection in the individual modules and learning units. Students should be given the opportunity to gain their own learning experience, to link their knowledge and skills with previous knowledge and experience and to build up their own qualification and competence profile on a concentrated and well-founded knowledge base with the help of self-directed, exploratory and playful learning. They should be enabled to compare their own experiences and views with those of others and to question them critically.
The ability to change perspectives is an important educational goal of our university. This goal is promoted by the interdisciplinary orientation. Learning content should be taught from different disciplinary perspectives and, if possible, in interaction and discourse between representatives of different disciplines. The disciplinary diversity of the faculty is a deliberate advantage. The concept of integrative modules with uniform module examinations requires and promotes close interdisciplinary exchange.
We pursue the strategic goal of integrating theory and practice as far as possible through cooperation with industry. The strong practical orientation is underpinned by the role of the Karlsruhe Chamber of Industry and Commerce as a co-partner and the fact that the committees are made up of representatives from industry. Our aim for the future is to further institutionalize the wealth of bilateral and informal collaborations and to increasingly acquire third-party funding as part of research collaborations with partner companies.
We are characterized by the fact that the personal development of students – not least in terms of leadership skills – plays a central role. Elements of personal development and the acquisition of key competencies should be an integral part of all curricula. We pursue the strategic goal of individualizing our products, programmes and support services so that students are addressed according to their learning type, can develop their different talents and develop their personality in the best possible way. Modern forms of teaching, such as e-learning and blended learning, should be used as part of an individualization strategy.
We pursue an interpretative and constructivist approach to economics
Our academic profile is characterized by an interest in economic and entrepreneurial action. We assume that economic reality is constructed and staged through the attribution, interpretation and negotiation of meaning and significance on the part of those involved and that economic interaction is culturally and socially shaped. In addition to quantitative research, qualitative research methods are of particular importance. In this sense, we pursue an interpretative approach to economics.
In recent decades, this approach has become an innovative and promising branch of economics, insofar as it views the subjects of various sub-disciplines of economics from a new perspective. In doing so, economics draws on thought models inspired by the social sciences, for example from (micro)sociology, cultural anthropology and linguistics and communication sciences, and creates a new understanding of the economy and society.
We qualify young people to take on management and leadership roles in business and society. In addition to cognitive-theoretical knowledge (“rules”) and availability knowledge (“tools”), this also includes orientation knowledge. Orientation knowledge is knowledge of ethically justified purposes and goals. Orientation knowledge arises in the construction of meaning. Orientation knowledge means culture, reflected life. In this sense, we are characterized by a cultural-scientific and constructivist orientation.
We are committed to the principles of academic self-administration and participatory cooperation between all those involved in university life. As an academic institution and as part of the scientific community, we are aware of our responsibility for the transfer of (applied) research into teaching and practice and for compliance with scientific standards. We are prepared to develop a profile and set priorities in the interests of the quality-oriented further development of the university and its stakeholders.
We are a glocal university: internationally oriented and locally rooted
We see ourselves as an international institution with an intercultural character. Our internationalization strategy focuses on Central and Eastern Europe, the Arab countries, South East Asia, Latin America and the Anglo-Saxon countries. We offer the languages of these regions as a second (English: first) foreign language and organize English-language degree courses and degree courses with a compulsory stay abroad. We strive for partnerships with comparable universities abroad for student and lecturer exchanges and for cooperation in the field of research. We strive to continuously increase the proportion of foreign professors, visiting professors and foreign students. We will promote the support and integration of foreign students.
In performing our tasks in teaching, studying and research, we see ourselves as having a special responsibility towards our city, the region and the state of Baden-Württemberg as well as the people and companies living here. We seek trusting cooperation with all social groups, companies and other universities and scientific institutions.
We want to make our contribution to the university’s ability to build relationships and to regional, national and international networking.
As a non-profit foundation, we compete with other universities for the best talent, ideas and tasks. Our services and programs are aimed both at those seeking education and training and at companies and institutions. In order to assert and assert ourselves as a state-recognized university under private sponsorship at the interface between education and the labor market, we strive for a permanently high and constantly improving quality in our service areas.
We are committed to market proximity. When developing new degree courses, we focus on promising industries and areas with a high demand for academic professionalization. We regularly review our curricula with the participation of students and business representatives to meet changing needs in the education and labor market. We strive for a high degree of innovation in our programs and make the topic of “change and innovation” the subject of our training.
We base our offers and target groups on the concept of “lifelong learning”. On the one hand, this means that we already offer programs for talented students and, on the other hand, that we accompany and coach our graduates and third parties beyond the first university degree (if possible) in the long term.
We work with a focus on service and quality
We are guided by the principles of results orientation, customer satisfaction, goal-oriented management, continuous learning, innovation and continuous improvement and a commitment to the social responsibility of the university. The management of the university is committed to these principles. It sees itself as a service provider to support university members in the fulfillment of their core tasks in research, teaching, studies, continuing education and administration and requires the acceptance of its members to legitimize its role.
Every manager at the university is measured in their behavior and decisions by the standards of clarity and consistency, respect and fairness, a sense of proportion and comprehensibility. Every manager should ask for and give appreciative feedback, be prepared to accept criticism and self-criticism and actively and continuously work on improving their own leadership skills. We delegate tasks and are guided by the principle of unity of task, competence and responsibility: Whoever has a task has the decision-making authority and bears the responsibility for it. We know the university’s goals and know how we can contribute individually, as a team and as part of the university to the achievement of these goals and to continuous improvement.
