University of Excellence in Konstanz

What makes a university stand out are its people and ideas. What makes a university truly outstanding, though, is the way in which it helps its members to realize new ideas.
Professor Katharina Holzinger, rector of the University of Konstanz

The University of Konstanz is one of eleven Universities of Excellence in Germany and has been successful in the German Excellence competition since 2006.

For us, being a University of Excellence means supporting our members in the best way possible as they make their research ideas reality. The creative processes of our researchers thrive on the fertile soil of connection, exchange and interdisciplinary collaboration in Konstanz. We bring together top researchers from different disciplines and offer them an inclusive environment where they can implement research projects focusing on their shared interests. This is what our concept creative.together is all about.

Our university could take a massive step forward in its institutional development through funding as a University of Excellence. We implemented our concept creative.together on a large scale and act as an "institutional lab" for innovative processes in academia. For us, it is key that research, teaching and academic support services work closely together. The entire university benefits from:

  • Funding and freedoms for university members to develop good ideas that we can turn into innovative projects;
  • Research infrastructures (Core Facilities) that are freely available university wide;
  • A supportive environment where researchers, students and academic support staff work hand in hand.

With our concept creative.together we have made our university an attractive place for talented international researchers wanting to conduct cutting-edge research in the context of a collaborative community.

The resulting research structures and content flow directly into our teaching activities. Thus, we provide our students with a first-class university education that goes beyond the traditional boundaries of individual disciplines, for example in our Advanced Data and Information Literacy Track (ADILT) – a cross-disciplinary programme on data and information literacy that is open to all of our students.

With our e-science strategy and "Freedoms for Governance" programme, we are modernizing the work processes in the academic support services and optimizing our structures – for a university with excellent conditions for research, study and work.