As a university, we are convinced that outstanding research and exceptional teaching can thrive where people come together in an inclusive environment to share ideas and implement them collaboratively. The corresponding framework conditions are provided by our concept "University of Konstanz – creative.together". We promote creative processes in research and teaching, continually develop our academic support services further, and foster exchange with society, industry and politics.
This attitude is part of our Konstanz spirit: We see ourselves and other university members as contributing to a community that we are all part of. Our overall strategy "creative.together" is based on five goals that address institutional as well as social challenges and mutually reinforce each other. Our key projects, forum.konstanz, the Zukunftskolleg, and the development of our comprehensive e-science strategy, combined with other Excellence measures, ensure we reach these goals.
Our goals
1. Promote top-level research at the University of Konstanz
Promote top-level research by optimizing framework conditions and supporting collaboration across disciplines and generations.
How we promote collaborative top-level research: We support intensive collaboration between researchers from different disciplines and career levels through a conducive working environment as well as an optimal research infrastructure for collaborative use, for instance by further developing our successful programmes Research Initiatives, Freedoms for Creativity and Network Platforms. We not only support our early career researchers in the Zukunftskolleg, but also continue to expand other programmes. For example, we pool various funding programmes for postdoctoral researchers in the Young Scholar Fund, a new fund specifically for doctoral researchers, expand the service portfolio of the Academic Staff Development (ASD) and create new advisory services for careers outside academia. A new Ethics Committee provides expert consultations on matters involving research ethics.
2. Increase the reciprocal effect between research and teaching
Increase the reciprocal effect between research and teaching by integrating our students in research processes and using cutting-edge teaching methods.
Our e-science strategy considerably enhances research-oriented teaching at our university. One example is our Advanced Data and Information Literacy Track (ADILT) programme for students. We also have introduced new funding programmes for innovative teaching projects as well as training options for teaching staff and, in addition to this, provide students access to cutting-edge research infrastructure.
3. Increase the knowledge and technology transfer between science and society
The University of Konstanz promotes knowledge and technology transfer as a reciprocal process between science, industry, politics and society. In addition to forum.konstanz, our knowledge and technology transfer measures focus on three fields of action: communication, advice and application. This includes further developing our science communication, for instance by establishing science writers and providing an editorial service for open access publications, by giving the Konstanz Science Forum an even more international profile and by optimizing our strategic relationship management activities.
Advisory services in the area of transfer are pooled in a new service team for research and teaching-related transfer projects and a new entrepreneurship mentoring programme is established. To promote practice-oriented transfer projects, we further develop our successful Transfer Platforms programme.
4. Expand research collaboration worldwide and strengthen inclusive institutional structures to promote equal opportunities and the acceptance of diversity
We strengthen our position as an internationally competitive research university and intensify collaboration between Konstanz researchers and partners from all over the world. Our Outgoing Centre, which provides advice on all non-academic aspects of a stay abroad, the development of new virtual mobility and blended learning options for digital teaching as well as the establishment of intercultural seminars support this process. Equal opportunity as well as a working environment which embraces diversity and family-friendliness solidify our fair and gender-equitable structures and sensitize university members for all forms of explicit and implicit discrimination. We expand our structures for the promotion of women in research and science and have also formalized our institutional commitment to diversity in a Code of Practice on Diversity.
5. Provide support for governance to remain capable of institutional renewal
To drive our continual further development, we strengthen our dynamic governance structures and adapt them to a changing – increasingly digital – environment by promoting institutional creativity as well as the capacity for innovation. Evidence-based and reliable governance as well as digitalization of administrative processes increase efficiency and the reliability of administration processes. One example is our new Freedoms for Governance programme, in which university members are encouraged to develop, test and implement creative ideas that promote our university’s overall progress as an institution of higher education.