About us

We perform research and teaching on educational processes in the classroom and out-of-school contexts. Our unique profile is shaped by our three fields of focus, which are our Profile Areas "Education in a democratic society", "Educational processes in the Digital World", and "STEM in a culture of sustainability". These three profile areas have been established as decisive strategic focuses in the university's Structure and Development Plan. Researchers at our university collaborate across disciplines and institutions as well as with external partners. Our Teaching and Learning Labs (TLL), which represent a pivotal intersection between research and practice, have a critical function in this respect. Here, students acquire key competencies in educational sciences that are significant for their future professional lives and careers.

We have established its self-concept and fundamental principles in our mission statement. These principles highlight the most important aspects that we will focus on for our future development.

Our Structure and Development Plan, up until 2026, details our strategic aims with regard to professional, structural, human resource, and financial development, whilst giving particular consideration to the principles of equal opportunity and sustainability. Our key objectives are to ensure the practical applicability of our degree programmes, the relevance of our research initiatives, and their effective translation into practice.

The campus is located in close proximity to the city centre and features a Mensa, sports hall, and university library. From here, it is only a few minutes' walk to the city centre and Karlsruhe Palace with its extensive parks and gardens.

Integral components of the Teacher Education programmes offered at our university include digital media in education as well as research methods in educational sciences. As a special profile for future teachers we offer the Bilingual Course (BLL/CLIL) with English and French as target languages.

Alongside the programmes in Teacher Education, we also offer degree programmes that are related to Education: a bachelor's degree can be earned in the programmes in Childhood Education (B.A.) and Physical Activity, Health and Recreation (B.A.) while a master's degree can be pursued in the programmes in Biodiversity and Environmental Education (M.Sc.), Adult Education (part-time programme for working professionals), Geragogics (part-time programme for working professionals), Higher Teaching at Vocational Schools, Intercultural Education, Migration and Multilingualism (M.A.) as well as Cultural Mediation.

In September 2020, the Accreditation Council certified that our university is capable of achieving the required quality standards in teaching and learning and our degree programmes successfully passed the system accreditation procedure.

We are fully authorised to confer doctoral and post-doctoral degrees, engaging in educational science and teaching methodology as well as in subject-specific research. The common focus is to better understand and design educational processes. The focus is on exploring the foundations of education from early childhood education to school and adult education through to geragogics. We concentrate our expertise in empirical research at our Institute for Research Methods in Educational Sciences, which was opened in 2018.

Targeted support for doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers is provided, among others, by the university's Research Department and the graduate school of teacher education (Graduiertenakademie der Pädagogischen Hochschulen, graph), which is also located at our university.

A special highlight of our university are the numerous Teaching and Learning Labs. These are learning environments outside the classroom for day-care children and pupils, where new educational services and teaching concepts are being developed, tested and scientifically evaluated. Here, students acquire competencies that are important for their future careers. And professionals and teachers get new ideas for innovative education.

Our continuing education programmes for working professionals also have a strong focus on educational sciences. In addition to the part-time master's programmes in Adult Education and Geragogics, the portfolio also includes subject-specific certificates (CAS) for educational work with older people, digital learning, diversity and generation management, learner coaching as well as ageing as a topic of philosophical and theological anthropology.

Our university forms an integral part of the "Karlsruhe science hub" where numerous universities and research institutions work closely together within a network. Moreover, we also collaborate with external partners from the fields of society, culture, education, business, and politics. The aim of this "third mission" is to make a decisive contribution to societal challenges in addition to research and teaching. These include ecological, technological, and economic issues as well as social challenges, such as successfully coping with new social inequalities.

Exchange and collaborations with international partners through student and staff mobility programmes such as Erasmus+ are also a top priority. We maintain a long list of partner universities around the world, with new ones being added regularly.