mid-term strategy 2013 – 2017

Zeppelin University

twenty7teen

Zeppelin University | Am Seemooser Horn 20, 88045 Friedrichshafen | +49 7541 6009 1000 | info@zu.de | zu.de/en/strategy

Whatis likely to be the idea of the university of the 21st century – and what will be its impact?

In 2003, Zeppelin University (ZU) was founded out of the civil society and

for society. It is the only private university in Germany without any kind of

government funding. Therefore, it considers the establishment of a close

relationship to society its most important responsibility. With its seven dis-

ciplines from social sciences, business sciences, and the humanities, ZU is

a player within the civil society for “social innovations” that is responsible,

competent, and maintains close relationships. This is achieved by socially

relevant research, student projects and start-ups, as well as by artistic,

medial, and political(ly consulting) interventions. Following the economic

miracle of technology in the 20th century, we will now see the century of

“socialized technology” and reform politics.

Following the strategies of the first (6before8) and the second five years

(zuzwölf), focusing on the founding of academic teaching and organization,

as well as on research and accreditation, in the years 2013 – 2017 the rector-

ate – in the sense of a strategy of self-commitment – will occupy themselves

with vehicles of social responsibility and their academic impact. Our aim:

We will have to be better to the same extent as we are more expensive.

“We will have to be better, more different, and more effective to the same extent as we are more expensive and more valuable.”

Zeppelin University, 2013

S O C I A LI N N O VA T I O N S

zeppelin university bridging business culture politics

Mission

Education

Which contribution in which form

do universities make to future responsible managers?

Research

How do we open new research areas

with our ability to maintain close relationships?

Commitment

How do we become effective beyond

teaching and research – in the region, in industry and

ministries, in cultural institutions and the media?

Quality

How do we as a university measure

our impact on innovations?

Funding

How do we organize and finance

a culture of facilitation for

social innovations by ZU students?

Leadership

With which social innovations do we enhance

employer attractiveness and personnel diversity?

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S O C I A LI N N O VA T I O N S

Zeppelin University –out of social responsibility and in social responsibility.

M I S S I O N

RESPONS IBILITY QUESTION ABLE

FOR THAT WHICH IS

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What kind of place can and should a university be in the 21st

century – considering the challenges? What are the functions,

freedoms, and responsibilities of universities that have to be

maintained, rediscovered, and invented anew?

Since its foundation in 2003, Zeppelin University has been

searching for answers to these questions. It sees itself as a

place of responsibility, of questionableness, and thus of the cat-

egorical question, of pioneering curiosity and uncompromising-

yet-constructive criticism.

We consider ourselves committed to the unity of teaching, re-

search, and academic services for social innovations – with

insistent joy.

ZU – triggered by the social responsibility of many sponsors,

foundations, and citizens of the civil society – also sees itself

as a player in civil society for society – beyond pure research

and teaching. It attempts contributions to the identification,

research, and implementation of social innovations – together

with scholars, students, administration, partners, and sponsors.

ZU is dedicated more to current issues than to past answers, to

probability rather than to truth, to interdisciplinary perspectives

on society rather than to business ethics, to questioning the

in-between rather than to providing ready-made answers.

While keeping its distance to society, ZU is still committed to it. It

considers its privilege of freedom the responsibility to work more

effectively and meaningfully for society. It sees the responsibility

to question the university itself. That is why, in 2011, it won the

national competition of the most committed universities, ”More

than research and teaching” by the Association for the Promo-

tion of Science and Humanities in Germany.

“z7z”, by now the third mid-term strategy from 2013 to 2017, is a

catamaran strategy with a hull of excellent substance on the one

hand and one of experimental avant-garde on the other.

Mission? Humboldt 2.0!

Strategy? The catamaran of excellence and experiment!RESPONS IBILITY QUESTION ABLE

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by means of academic, artistic,

medial, political, and entrepreneurial intervention

for social innovations

M I S S I O N

by means of academic, artistic,

medial, political, and entrepreneurial intervention

for social innovations

M I S S I O N

Social innovation and the logic of inclusion

In modern societies, sociologists talk about functional differen-

tiation – no group in the fore, but many fringe groups. This ex-

plains the demand: inclusion. Player-related inclusion strategies

are making social innovations more likely due to new arenas of

interaction – between citizens and the state, business and civil

society, migrants and natives, companies and employees, dis-

abled and non-disabled people, remedial and university students,

seniors and infants, elites and and and. Inclusion – i.e. the use of

diversity – could thus become a source of innovation of and by

the university.

Social innovation and the logic of hybridization

Original organizations and sectors require clear boundaries to

their environment. Yet the clear separation of state, civil society,

and families reaches its own limits: the issues are now clever, i.e.

in their way separated, hybridizations. Hybrid institutions due to

trans-sectoral cooperations between states, markets, civil soci-

eties, and the sciences. Hybrid value-added due to the solution

of social problems for economic value-added chains – either in

non-markets or developing countries.

Social innovation and the logic of systemization

Innovations take place close to or at boundaries. That is what is

being said. Germany’s competitiveness regarding state, market,

and cultural issues will no longer be decided only by innovations

in technology and services, but by the management of complex

systems of technological, service, cultural, and social innova-

tions. These can be intermodal traffic systems, decentral energy

systems with intelligent grids, multi-infrastructural city develop-

ment, preventive and supportive caring.

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socialM I S S I O N

But what is the

social aspect of social innovation?

Collective creativity or charitable capital?

M I S S I O N

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Social innovation and Zeppelin University

A university’s strategy should be clear: excellent teach-

ing and excellent research and up and up in the rankings.

Why not? We have been trying this as well. And it works –

sometimes even impressively.

Zeppelin University acts in the gaps existing between busi-

ness, culture, and politics and their theories and methods.

And here the experiment comes before excellence.

Zeppelin University is dedicated to social innovations us-

ing the means of teaching, research, and other forms of

expression. That is what it has always done – only now it

does so in a more disciplined way. For a lack of discipline

and innovation itself needs a strategy, a discipline, a rou-

tine, and a clarification how far this guiding principle of

social innovation can go.

Zeppelin University will live its strategic focus of social in-

novation with experiments – in the areas of “education”, of

“research”, of “mission”, of “quality assurance”, as well as

of “funding” and of “equipment” together with “organiza-

tional and personnel development”. And in doing this it

will also fail from time to time. As is the case with airships.

But it is also always a matter of disciplined, passionate

comebacks. So are we!15

From the first semester on and in small groups – individualized

research on theoretical, methodical, and empirical approaches to

questions of our society. Research-based interventions for so-

ciety from social, cultural, and politically-entrepreneurial reality –

instead of exams that can be plagiarized.

av a

il

able

What can you still learn if all knowledge seems to all?

S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H E D U C A T I O N

av a

ilabl

e

What can you still learn if all knowledge seems to all?

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Project orientation: learning as service

The phenomena-related orientation towards challenges and

projects has the purpose of learning confusedly, exploring cu-

riously, experimenting courageously, observing precisely, argu-

ing analytically, and implementing carefully (“challenge-based

learning”). The dichotomy between project-orientation and ac-

ademic standards is made possible by the close interconnection

with the curricula. This connection is implemented in various

forms and formats. In addition to the contents of the disciplines,

the curricula also reflect social phenomena. Social commitment

and social innovations are closely connected with subject-spe-

cific learning (“service learning”).

Mission: education through insistent presence

At ZU, university education also means questioning the in-be-

tween and finding in-between solutions for social challenges.

Seminars emphasize discursive presence of lecturers and stu-

dents instead of unidirectional presentations. “Reading in ad-

vance” saves you the lectures. Learning from peers outside the

box allows for self-development and self-correction. Digitiliza-

tion allows for cognitively differentiated preparation. Teaching

based on direct exchange will be remembered only when it cov-

ers that which cannot be documented digitally. Our challenge for

the social innovations of education: working in digital presence

and developing implicit knowledge.

For everything else the following applies:

Position Paper “Quality of Research-oriented Teaching”.

Lesson formats: gaining explicit and implicit knowledge

ZU has won many prizes, awards, and impressive ranking po-

sitions for its didactics. It will also venture experiments in new

structural and didactic concepts in the coming years and for that

aim also strengthen the rectorate accordingly. The research fo-

cus in the bachelor (“undergraduate research” in the “Zeppelin

Year” and the “Humboldt Year”) are examples of such exper-

imental innovations. Even with a four-year bachelor program

we believe in maintaining a two-year master structure.

The emphasis is on theory-focused, literature-based seminars

in small groups where roles between teachers and those being

taught change. Method-based classes are always taught in ref-

erence to problem areas (“splashy transfer of dry methods”).

“Instant Lectures”, “StudentStudies”, issue-driven or country-

specific conference study programs and further didactic ideas

by colleagues and students are supported actively.

External as well as internal lecturers are to exchange their expe-

rience and reflection using appropriate didactic concepts and are

closely connected to ZU by quality partnerships.

S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H E D U C A T I O N

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Maybe creative accessibility

– bold &indepen- dent.

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Internationalization: research-based program partners

instead of exchange-dequalification

Internationalization is more than just exchange. The “Humboldt

Year” with its partnerships with selected and ZU-specific re-

search universities such as Berkeley, Copenhagen, and Gold-

smiths, or the master program with Cambridge was the begin-

ning of the end – of the end of purely exchange-based partner

universities. Until 2017, both in the bachelor and the master pro-

grams, four research-based double-degree- and perspectively

also joint-degree programs – will be developed.

Creativity & value-added entrepreneurship:

paradoxes of compulsory creativity

The role model of the decision-maker and creative shaper is part

of the mission in founding. Academia deals with that which can

be known and making it explicit. But more is at stake. The focus

is on the development of one’s own – even implicit – forms of

creativity, their performance, and reflection – artistic, entrepre-

neurial, and academic, specifically implemented in the obligatory

class “Creative Performance”, the “arts program” and the sem-

inar “Value-Added Entrepreneurship” bridging business, poli-

tics, and civil society. Creativity and entrepreneurship are active-

ly supported and promoted by ZU – by itself and permanently!

Feedback and feedforward instead of “voting by feet”

Achievement is an obligation. Our far-reaching quality assurance

system starts with something that is not a matter of course: an

open 360 degree feedback culture. At ZU, clarity in the objec-

tives of seminars, transparency regarding grading, and individual

feedback on performance are resources of an ongoing improve-

ment process and the start of explaining communication.

.

 

S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H E D U C A T I O N

Forms of examinations: pioneering constructions

instead of plagiarism-sensitive reconstructions

A clear commitment to socially relevant research requires the

compliance with the principles of good academic practice. This

includes, among other things, the consistent check of plagiarism.

Examinations are more focused on knowledge that cannot be

known and thus are less susceptible to plagiarism.

The university of the 21st century under the condition of the

digital availability of knowledge: presence in distance

The next university will be digital – beyond time and space. Digital

education, however, will have to be more than the pure informa-

tion logistics of the last decades. Our understanding of education

therefore applies in the same way to the digital world: project-

oriented, research-based, learning outside the box. To make this

possible ZU is working on the development of completely new

digital learning designs – cooperating with partners from technol-

ogy and blended learning contexts, international in its approach,

and individual in its work with the participants. Further aims are

the reflexive accompanying research and the responsibility for

the mobilization of new target groups for tertiary education that

thus becomes possible.

S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H R E S E A R C H

Relevance.Resonance.Resonance

De-infantilization of research. Making graduate school less school. Experimental excellence.

Relevance.Resonance.Resonance

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undis

ciplin

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Prolifically sustainable in-between solutions

need to be focused on

interdisciplinary phenomena

S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H R E S E A R C H

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Rigorousness, risk, relevance, and resonance

expansion of “Zeppelin University Graduate School | ZUGS”

opening up of research areas

DFG-membership and research rankings

Responsibility: “community-based research”

research for the region and its interest groups

2 – 3 projects per year both in and beyond the region

Publications: maximization of audiences, i.e. the public

plurality of publication media

“intelligent trivialization”

academic political consulting

A-journal numbers, use of own publications and channels

Third-party funds: proof of relevance by promotion

without fetish

third-party funds by competitions or foundations

between 30,000 and 100,000 EUR per year/per professor

Young academics: balance of autonomy and promotion

cooperative promotion by supervision agreements and

partly-structured program

continuity in academia & areas close to academia

Interdisciplinary experiments yet disciplinary excellence

questions instead of subjects

university bridging business, culture, and politics

high percentage of interdisciplinary work

Alternative mainstreams:

emergence for idiosyncracies

expansion of cross-departmental

research centers

undis

ciplin

ed

sustainable in-between solutions

need to be focused on

interdisciplinary phenomena

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S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H R E S E A R C H

Rigorousness, risk, relevance, and resonance

ZU, and especially the “Zeppelin University Graduate School

ZUGS” is committed to the methodical rigorousness, the theses-

related risks, the subject-related relevance, and the target-group

related resonance of its research.

Responsibility through research:

“community-based research”

Every scholar, as well as the ethics commission, is responsible

for research. Yet the responsibility through research as a univer-

sity – e.g. for the region or other target groups – is just as central.

ZU is further expanding its approach towards research orientation

as its responsibility for its environment.

Publications: maximization of audiences,

i.e. many public spheres

Research also means publications. Zeppelin University does not

only try to serve the narrow specialist audience in narrow spe-

cialist journals, but encourages repeat publications for various

audiences. The plurality of publication media, as well as the intel-

ligent trivialization in the sense of a translation, is appreciated, for

the academic world is a public one.

Third-party funds: proof of relevance by promotion

yet avoiding fetishization

Sometimes the quality of research is measured according to

quantities that only seem to be objective, such as the raising of

third-party funds awarded in competitions. If you have no better

idea, you should draw on research. It clearly shows that third-

party funds also create counter-productive self-perpetuating

dynamics, dependencies on size, as well as on areas: those who

already have will get even more. As a smaller university ZU tries to

develop individual research projects through a research support

system (FUSY). ZU welcomes the procurement of third-party

funds also as one possible proof of the relevance of its work.

It sees no need to dramatize, yet the need to re-evaluate the

appreciation even of non-state granted research funding by the

civil society.

Young academics: balance

of autonomy and cooperative promotion

The quality of this phase of the professional qualification of young

academics is determined by the balance between the autono-

my of their independent work and the cooperative promotion by

their supervisors specified in the supervision agreement. Addi-

tional factors are the partly-structured program as well as the

academic environment of the ZUGS and its partners. The focus

is on developing the competence to transmit academic contents.

Interdisciplinary experiments yet disciplinary excellence:

questions instead of subjects

Since its foundation, ZU as a university that bridges business,

culture, and politics has been following an interdisciplinary ap-

proach. The “Zeppelin University Graduate School | ZUGS” is

committed to a solid disciplinary basis combined with the will-

ingness of all researchers to deal with research issues and per-

spectives of different disciplines.

Alternative mainstreams: emergence for idiosyncracies

The funding of the cross-disciplinary research centers of ZU will

be expanded. The research associations developing in academic

self-organization, and the accredited research clusters of ZU are

the basis of the identification of interdisciplinary research issues,

also for doctoral projects.

S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H C O M M I T M E N T

No beacon that only warns of itself. ZU as a university maintaining close relationships within society.

No beacon that only warns of itself. ZU as a university maintaining close relationships within society.

RESP

ONSIVENESS

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loves S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H C O M M I T M E N T

ZU

Projects and relationships – out of egoistic empathy!

loves Responsiveness:

48 h response, 7 days for project assessment

primary response to external project inquiries within 48 hours

pre-assessment of projects within 7 days: feasibility

and modalities

7 – 10 new projects per year resulting from 100 inquiries

Public university: agora for the citizens

events for the region beyond the academic sphere

civic involvement – platform/regional conference

100 events and one regional conference per year

 

Lifelong learning:

the multi-generational university

“Zeppelin University Professional School”

children’s, teenagers’, and seniors’ university

six executive programs and diversity

Regional integration: service-oriented learning

20% of all seminars have a “service-learning” orientation

demand-oriented sparring partners

social work placement even before the beginning of studies

Cooperation organization & holding company

ZU Micro Equity GmbH & Co. KG

and a university-student consulting organization

Strategic Policy Unit for University Innovation (SAUI)

TalentCenter including “Post Placement” services

“Social Venture & Research Team” for social innovation

Reporting: do good and talk about it

documentation and evaluation

academic impact report

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Projects and relationships – out of egoistic empathy!

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S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H C O M M I T M E N T

Responsiveness:

external project inquiries with a 48 h commitment to respond

External project inquiries receive a response within 48 hours,

including an evaluation of their potential, possible first ideas on

structures, as well as implementation processes and a sched-

uled proposal for the further specification of the process details.

Public university: agora for the citizens

The university is a place of provocation, i.e. a place for sustainable

and resonating debates and discourses. In approximately 100

events per academic year, pressing current issues are offered to

all interested citizens and the academic public. At least one third

of all external speakers are female.

Lifelong learning: the multi-generational university

At German universities, the youth cult rules. We have younger

and younger students, yet they are basically more and more ex-

perienced. All curricular offers of lifelong learning are combined

in the “Zeppelin University Professional School”. Six executive

master programs, each of them with a clearly determined focus

and a specific target group. The questions of the participants are

the starting point for the research-based work in the seminars.

Regional and curricular integration:

every fifth series of seminars service-oriented learning

ZU has a system for integrating social issues into the curriculum

in service-oriented learning concepts together with external

project partners. At least 20% of all ZU events integrate aspects

of service-oriented learning. This builds on the social work place-

ments before the beginning of studies, as well as on the real-life

case studies in our selection process.

 

Extra-curricular projects and start-up initiatives:

promoted self-interest

Study-accompanying projects and start-up initiatives by students

are supported by an institutionalized promotion system that is

directly linked to the rectorate. Here, at least 30 student projects

and 10 start-up initiatives are promoted per year. Many of them

have a local-regional reference.

  

Reporting: do good and talk about it

The documentation and evaluation of all activities and projects

of the university is self-evident for ZU: the yearly published ac-

ademic impact report summarizes everything comprehensibly.

The ability to maintain close relationships requires

Integrated interface: ZU Scientific Services GmbH

As a university which is able to maintain close relationships

ZU integrates elements of academic consulting, continuing

education, and of contract research, and thus operates in a de-

mand-oriented way as a sparring partner for institutions from

business, culture, and politics. These offers are combined in the

Scientific Services GmbH.

Support structures:

companies and centers of ZU

We are further expanding our holding company ZU Micro

Equity GmbH & Co. KG, are founding a consulting firm run by

the university and students, and are strengthening the “Stra-

tegic Policy Unit for University Innovation | SAUI”, the center

for university development, as well as the center for strategic

partnerships, the TalentCenter and the alumni office, which

among others co-manage the student career fair “ZUtaten”.

S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H Q U A L I T Y

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to the union.

Two levels of integration: “group of project developers” and

“social venture research team”

All those involved in projects communicate with and inform the

other relationship managers – always hoping for a connection.

The mentioned centers, researchers, the Civil Society Center,

as well as students and additional staff members are integrat-

ed into the “Social Venture & Research Team”, which supports

and evaluates the development and implementation of social

innovations.

Reporting: do good and talk about it

The projects and initiatives are evaluated together with external

partners. Documentation and evaluation are published once a

year in the “Social & Economic Impact Report” of ZU. You can

find the current report at: zu.de/zutun

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W i

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esse

s

But how does this work at universities?

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S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H Q U A L I T Y

Qua

lifica

tion

or

gani

zation

due

to

of

the

Why do students learn in universities but the universities do not learn from them?

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Quality management beyond mere staging

learning university: systematic quality assurance and

process optimization in all service areas

quality assurance = university development

successful system re-accreditation

System of overall quality responsibility

vice-presidency, quality council, and daily implementation

annual quality report to the senate

academic impact report

Quality-oriented systemic process design

quality assurance and quality development due to:

establishing appropriate systemic framework conditions

with the introduction of a key-figure oriented, integrated,

transparent quality assurance system

further developing and rooting of the quality concept in

panels connected to the senate (program boards, councils)

system accreditation of the service area of “teaching”

Innovation due to development/quality drivers of

criticism

open dealing with criticism in regular panel work

open participation formats of the university

(critical reflection)

participation before decision-making

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the of

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S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H Q U A L I T Y

Quality management beyond mere staging:

learning university

A private university has to be better to the same extent as it is

more expensive for sponsors and students than state universi-

ties. A systematic quality assurance and process optimization

in all service areas (teaching, research, academic and adminis-

trative services) and the positive re-accreditation in the accred-

itation processes of the institution itself and its right to confer

doctorate degrees by the Science Council are top priority at ZU.

As a learning university quality assurance is also university devel-

opment, since quality requires procedural assurance, as well as

dynamic generation by both standardized and ad hoc structures

of participation.

Overall responsibility quality:

vice-presidency, quality council, and daily implementation

Quality management has its own position of vice president in

the rectorate. The quality concept of the university means the

aggregation of “learning entities” and becomes manifest in the

contributions by those teaching, by staff members, and stu-

dents, the culture and structure of the organization, and its devel-

opment and decision-making processes. The “quality council”

provides a senate-related evaluation of the quality management

and thus wins support for the daily implementation of quality.

 

Quality-oriented process design

in a systemic context

ZU’s strategic quality assurance has its effects regarding the

establishment and process organization in (1) the creation of

appropriate systemic framework conditions by introducing a

key-figure oriented, integrated, transparent quality assurance

system, (2) the further development and rooting of the quality

concept in the organizational structure, the panels connected

to the senate (boards, councils), and in the leadership and par-

ticipation instruments of ZU, (3) the system accreditation for

the service area of “teaching”.

Innovativeness due to development

and quality drivers of criticism

The task-related regular panels of the university, and especially

also its open formats of participation (e.g. development day, zones,

boards etc.) constitute forums of critical reflection and gener-

ators of ideas for the strategic and operative further develop-

ment of the university as a whole and its processes in particular.

S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H F U N D I N G

THROUGHATTENTIVE

NESS32

THROUGH

friends and patrons facilitate the culture of facilitation at ZU

ALLOCATION

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S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H F U N D I N G

For a society with its seven senses.

[Sense endowing university]

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Attentiveness through allocation:

funding of our 7 senses

of our senses of feeling, hearing, direction, justice, symbols,

orientation, and freedom

endowment funds grow by eight-figure sums

Three-pillar model: funding mix of an independent ZU

sustainable basic funding

tuition that can be financed in a socially acceptable way

sponsoring and third-party funding

Social innovations: university/student funding

socially fair financing offers for students

business models of university funding

expansion of scholarship offers and funds for hardship cases

Location: magnetic presence of a flexible university

campuses Seemooser Horn and Fallenbrunnen as

memorable places

hospitality: teaching, research, art, place of critical analysis

of and within society

 

MainCampus Fallenbrunnen and urban development:

creative quarters are closing ranks

urban infrastructure, public transport, housing market,

and day care facilties

 

Social innovation on-site: ZU’s container outposts

CapitalCampus in Berlin and possibility of additional locations

“ContainerUni” and “Humboldt-Container – zu|mobile”

Services and infrastructures: flexibility during growth

library, IT, and cafeteria

Upper-Swabian use of resources and long-term financing

liquidity protection eight years in advance

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S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H F U N D I N G

Attentiveness through allocation: funding of our 7 senses

ZU’s endowment funds are being expanded by an additional

eight-figure funding by our patrons. For the different senses of a

university – from feeling and hearing to orientation – everything

is promoted by those who endow sense.

3-pillar model: funding mix of an independent ZU

Independence is not cheap. At ZU, 1. sustainable sponsorships,

2. socially acceptable financed tuition, and 3. project-generat-

ed gains and grants will guarantee the university’s funding and

financial independence of the influence of third parties. The

supporting ZU foundation guarantees the governance-related

independence of research and teaching.

Social innovations in funding the university and the students

ZU permanently tries new forms of financing a private university,

and socially fair student funding. We are developing new models

of both university and parent-independent student funding. ZU

supports students in financing questions, e.g. scholarship offers,

qualified financial advice, and hardship case funds to be expand-

ed with students, alumni, and sponsors.

Location: magnetic presence of a flexible university

Our campuses Seemooser Horn and Fallenbrunnen are memora-

ble sites of the unknown, of successful communication, coopera-

tion, hospitality: teaching, research, art, protected and yet public

places of the critical analysis of and within society.

MainCampus Fallenbrunnen and urban development:

creative quarters are closing ranks

The development from former military barracks to creative quar-

ters works together with the city and those who love culture and

education. ZU and its partners focus on the joint further develop-

ment of urban infrastructure, the connection to public transport,

sustainable and affordable housing for students, and day care

facilities to combine work or studies and family life.

Social innovation on-site: ZU’s container outposts

ZU develops permanent and temporary locations on-site and is

trying to expand the CapitalCampus in Berlin, and in selected

national and international cities – with our partners. We are con-

sidering an inner-city presence in Friedrichshafen, and the reali-

zation of the “Humboldt-Container – zu|mobile” idea to provide

students e.g. in the Humboldt Year or the master program with

a mobile research laboratory for field research even in unusual

regions or crisis areas.

Central services and infrastructures: flexibility during growth

ZU is growing, and the central services feel this most. The library,

IT, and the cafeteria are growing in size and equipment and con-

tinuously developing their offers corresponding to ZU’s profile

and the social framework conditions. Flexibility in work-related

and catering issues is proven by a further development of collab-

orative campus management systems and catering facilities at

the different campuses.

Economical use of resources: Upper-Swabian

Efficiency of structural costs and effective handling of sponsor-

ships are typical of the Upper-Swabian Zeppelin University. This

includes the consistent procurement of percentages of general

costs in case of project financing – for project infrastructures

have to be financed.

Funding 2017: long-term liquidity and broad assets

A progressively thinking university capable of projects requires

a sustainable, fundable endowment. Liquidity has been guaran-

teed for 8 years in advance due to rolling basic agreement to pro-

vide funds and deficit guarantees against Baden-Württemberg.

S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H L E A D E R S H I P

ZU

cultures of facilitation through standard stars and turbulent teams.

Process stability to allow for flexibility: capacities,

division of labor, and cross-sectoral processes

Process stability to allow for flexibility: capacities, division

of labor, and cross-sectoral processes. ZU lives a culture

of “yes-persons” – until a no is justified. We called this

“culture of facilitation” in our last strategy and in its growth

it is getting more and more demanding. Together with the

leadership circle of ZU the conditions for the possibility of

a culture of facilitation have been defined, and they will

be developed further until 2017. Considering the available

capacity and its economical handling we consider it our

responsibility to facilitate research, teaching, services

and social innovations, and projects that integrate all of

these. A culture of facilitation requires lean administrative

Routines are just as important as innovations:

routinized innovations as well

Efficiency in processes, panels, and decision-making are the

pre-conditions for a flexible organization capable of projects. In

this sense we are developing the establishment and process

organization of the university – continuously and with a focus

on quality assurance. A central idea is the division of labor in the

staff-related development, professionalization, communication

and training of standards (“standard star”) on the one hand and

a structure of dealing with ad hoc requests and projects on the

other (“turbulent teams”). In the sense of “job rotations” or “job

enrichment” the employee has the chance to discuss their con-

tribution to the standard and to the turbulent situations actively

with their line managers.

Decentralization of responsibility:

growth means alertness on all fronts

As a consequence of the university’s growth and the division

of labor, the rectorate will decentralize many tasks with clear

activities, competences, and responsibilities (also concerning

budgets) – e.g. in the area of curricular responsibility, of quality

management, of subject group organization, of the qualification

of young academics, etc. To do so, new administrative and aca-

demic forms of self-organization will have to be tried out.

and fast, decentral decision-making

processes, direct communication, as

well as a high degree of self-responsi-

bility and capacity to act by both staff

members and students. We pay spe-

cial attention to the coordination and

reliability at interfaces which are further

intensified by service commitments

that are evaluated every two years and

by ad hoc meetings to cross-sectoral

processes (IAPs).

37

S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H L E A D E R S H I P

Universes for

38

Staff recruiting/development:

innovative employer

thirst for knowledge, commitment, and colleagueship

social innovations for work-relevant, spatial, and temporal

individualization of work

dual career options in cooperation with regional

employers

Incentive, leadership, and participation structures

more profound development than money: feedback,

flexibility, education

“social office for staff” and leadership self-image

  

Support of social commitment of staff members

responsibility and the willingness to accept it

reference to existing ZU projects and the region welcome

four hours of work per month

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Working at universities is universal, but how do we support uniqueness?For more diversity of the university!

Universes for

39

S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N S T H R O U G H L E A D E R S H I P

Staff recruitment and development:

ZU as an innovatively individualizing employer

Our academic and administrative members of staff are the uni-

versity’s most important asset – together with our students,

sponsors, and partners. The work environment is characterized

by thirst for knowledge, commitment, and colleagueship. Mutual

trust, honesty, passion for the matters at hand, care of and re-

spect for the colleagues, the tasks and the expectations of our

target groups – these are the values guiding our actions. The

work-related, spatial, and temporal individualization of our work

based on different competences, as well as the possibilities of

participation beyond rituals, are attractive aspects.

Incentive, leadership, and participation structures:

more profound development than merely money

ZU does not believe in purely monetary incentive structures, but

rather in regular, attentive, appreciative, and respectfully open

feedbacks, in varied standardized, as well as individual qualifica-

tion opportunities and development possibilities of job profiles,

flexible working hours, support structures for the audited com-

patibility of family and career, including the development of a

dual career pool together with regional employers, optional com-

pany benefits, and innovative support offers such as our “social

office for staff”. Our leadership self-image is re-evaluated openly

every two years to check for discrepancies. As a result of the

university’s growth, the participation arenas of the leadership cir-

cle (FKK), the extended management circle (EMK) or extended

scholars’ circle (EWK) are cultivated as events of collectivization,

development, and correction.

Support of the social commitment of staff members:

impact somewhere else for a change

Zeppelin University considers it its responsibility to support its

staff members’ readiness to take on responsibility for society. We

especially welcome those initiatives referring to existing projects

by students or academics of ZU, projects supporting the advance-

ment of education in the region, as well as further social commit-

ments. Four hours of work per month can be granted for this.

H I S T O R Y A N D R E V I E W 20

03

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

January 2007studentsmembers of staffpartner universities

October 2005studentsmembers of staffpartner universities

September 2003studentsmembers of staffpartner university

3475330

1513616

19151

June 2003Founding of Zeppelin University, provision of financing by Zeppelin GmbH, appointment of Prof. Dr. Stephan A. Jansen as Founding President

May 2006Grand opening of the 3rd department

“Public Management & Governance”

December 2007ZU becomes an endowment university. The future strategy

“zuzwölf” is passed

September 2007Grand opening of the Dr. Manfred Bischoff Institute for Innovation Management of EADS

June 2006Presentation of the innovative place in the “Land of Ideas” award by German Federal President Dr. Horst Köhler

December 2006Founders’ meeting of the Zeppelin University Association ZU|G

September 2003Start of two bachelor degree programs in business studies and communication and cultural studies

November 2004Start of the Citizens’ University series with guests such as Thomas Gottschalk and Dr. Norbert Lammert

Founding2003 – 2007

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

September 2012studentsmembers of staffpartner universities

May 2011studentsmembers of staffpartner universities

September 2009studentsmembers of staffpartner universities

1008201

70

77315765

62013558

September 2011Conferral of the right to award doctoral and post-doctoral degrees and start of four-yearbachelor degrees

December 2007ZU becomes an endowment university. The future strategy

“zuzwölf” is passed

October 2008Grand opening of the Deutsche TelekomInstitute for Connected Cities

January 2008Inauguration of the new building at Seemooser Horn campus

May 2008First listing in the CHE university rankingwith top grades across all three departments October 2009

Grand opening of the facilities in FAB 18 asinterim solution

February 2010More than 100 start-ups by ZU students

January 2011ZU has 65 partner universities worldwide. New partner: Sciences Po in Paris

August 2010Grand opening of ZU Professional School, start of the part-time Master of Family Entrepreneurship

June 2013Ground-breaking for the new ZU MainCampus

July 2012Ernst Susanek hands over the presidency of the ZU|Foundation to Thomas Sattelberger

January 2012The ZU Graduate School is founded

October 2012Grand opening of the ContainerUniin Fallenbrunnen

June 201220 million donated by ZF Friedrichshafen AG for the new MainCampus and 10.5 million donated by the Karl Schlecht Foundation

February 2011Success in“Germany’s most Committed University” competition Prize money 200,000 €

May 2011All study programsamong the top 6 in the CHE ranking; Science Council recommends autonomous entitlement to award doctoral degrees for ZU

February 2009First institutionalaccreditation of a Southern German private university by the Science Council

Expansion2008 – 2012

Social Innovation2013 – 2017

p u b l i c d e b t e n e r g y c o m m u n i c

a t i o n m o b i l i t y c l i m a t e p r o t

e c t i o n c o n s u m e r p o l i c y u r b a n

d e v e l o p m e n t s o c i a l s t a t e

l e a d e r s h i p s e c u r i t y c o r r u p

t i o n f i n a n c i a l m a r k e t a r c h i

t e c t u r e s d e m o g r a p h i c s c i v i l

s o c i e t y e d u c a t i o n a s s e t s c u

l t u r e p o l i t i c s s y s t e m c o m p e

t i t i o n m i g r a t i o n s u s t a i n

a b i l i t y v a l u e s m a n a g e m e n t

m e d i a e t h i c s r e f o r m c o m m u n i c

a t i o n p o l i t i c s p r o c e s s p r o t e s t

a n d w h a t s h a l l u n i s d o n o w ?

Publisher: Zeppelin Universität, Rectorate | Art Direction: Philipp N. Hertel