Quality Assurance System of Zeppelin University

Can a University Learn? No, It Must!

The Quality Assurance system of ZU is – in keeping with its self-image as a "learning university" – oriented towards a continuous, contentual, and systemic progression and optimization of its performance in teaching, research, and services. The criteria for the establishment, safeguarding, and development of ZU's performance quality follow the model and quality objectives (which are formulated as part of its policy) set by the Valuation Standards Council for the Analysis and Development of Study, Teaching, Research, Further Education and Services.
As such, the role of Quality Assurance is to further develop the organizational responsivity and productivity of ZU in such a way that contributions from students, scientists, workers, or stakeholders from outside the university, be they scientific, organizational, educational, financial, or strategic in nature, can be channeled in a suitable way and optimally used for the further development of the university.
This applies to ZU's original activities in the areas of research, teaching, and services, as well as the relational structure and the respective work context of the aforementioned stakeholders.

Here, the ZU's Quality Assurance directives are informed by Attitude, ZU Strategy and the focus on the university's Quality-Oriented Qualification and Organization.

Attitude

At ZU, the term Attitude stands for a fundamental understanding of the crucial determinants of the university's actions regarding individual and institutional character and impact, independent of the period and the programs on offer. Through its approach ZU sets an operational and attitudinal framework for administrative and academic business which is continually refined, value-driven, and universal. The aim here is to initially come at every idea from a point of view of facilitation. Following the principle of participative decision making, these standards of ZU are openly discussed, critically evaluated, and defined and interpreted in a solution-oriented way. The guidelines which are set in this way are documented and then conveyed and communicated through the intra-university communications channels.

Here, quality is defined as a canon of values and requirements shared by everyone affiliated with the university, from which collective responsibility and obligation are transformed into participatively-developed and institutionally-defined standards (so-called "mixed planning" as an iterative hybrid of bottom-up and top-down approaches).

With increasing organizational maturity and experience, these values will be gradually refined and copper-fastened. Hence they blueprint the vision of the university on the one hand in terms of a mutual self-image concerning the operational variety of roles and tasks in science and administration, and on the other hand in terms of the positioning and distinction of its own academic aspirations in the national and international college environment.

Attitude is defined and documented in ZU's 5 Year Strategy.

Strategy

In the summer of 2021, the Structure and Development Plan (STEP) 2021-2025 of Zeppelin University (ZU) was unanimously approved by the Senate. The STEP, titled "ZU | 2025 – Unlock the Future," defines the strategic development goals for this period in the four core areas of research, teaching, transfer, and university development.

It outlines the strategic and operational measures aimed at systematically, structurally, and purposefully sharpening the profile of ZU. The mission of ZU is to contribute to understanding and addressing the societal challenges of our time through research, teaching, and transfer.

The core areas of the Structural and Development Plan are complemented by the following five cross-cutting themes, which are guiding principles for all areas of the university: interdisciplinarity, digital transformation, sustainability, internationalization, equality and diversity.

Based on this STEP, ZU aims to contribute to solving the pressing future issues of society at regional, national, and international levels through its activities in teaching, research, and transfer.

Quality-Oriented Qualification and Organization

According to the "Prinzip der kurzen Wege" ("principle of short distances"), the implementation and refinement of Quality Assurance takes place within the framework of an institutionalized mechanism for co-ordination and reflection. Direct and regular contact between the key figures on the Board of Directors, in Teaching Administration and in Program Direction is the main catalyst for an efficient and effective culture of communication with regard to the full realization of potential. In addition, the university places great value on the structural involvement of the accompanying expertise from the fields of politics, science, and culture in the academic, entrepreneurial and organizational issues which concern ZU.

The embedding of the previously described "quality" is therefore not a peripheral job, nor is it seen as something outside of day-to-day business. Rather it is a self-evident and equal aspect of the normal scheduling, completion, and reviewing of work, from both a personal and institutional point of view. Alongside the direct, problem-oriented solutions for "ordinary workflow" in the areas of teaching, research, and services, the quality-promoting and consolidating interaction between people in authority and employees (as part of decision-making bodies and discussion forums) generates important questions regarding the adaptation of the university's Attitude and Strategy – the very things by which it defines itself and its range of programs. Additional Quality Assurance mechanisms are introduced, depending on quality criteria and systemic necessity.

Here, special emphasis is placed on the definition, documentation, communication, and continual optimization of intra-organizational processes. The process mapping is not a bureaucratic end in itself, but rather it is aimed at resolving the apparent discrepancy between a standardization-oriented process structure and the vision of a reflection-friendly, innovation-friendly system through regular scrutinization of ZU's own work management systems.

Since the awarding of System Accreditation (the highest level of national Quality Accreditation) in September 2013, ZU is responsible for the Quality Assurance of its own programs. Program Accreditation (Program Accreditations) through external accreditation agencies are no longer necessary as long as all program changes and developments go through the internal Quality Assurance system methodically and verifiably. ZU has introduced "Quality Assurance Tracks" in order to classify, standardize, and systematize the developmental process. The tracks define the form and rigor of the procedure in an already existing program structure (in study programs which are already up and running) or the originality of the proposal (where the establishment of a new course is concerned) and all of the associated Quality Assurance steps and responsibilities. In this way it is ensured that all programs on offer are in line with internal strategic, academic, and commercial parameters while also complying with national and international guidelines.

Accreditations

Since the establishment of the university, all of ZU's study programs have been quality assured through program accreditation. In September 2014, after a lengthy peer review process with the support of the Accreditation-Agency ACQUIN (Bayreuth), ZU achieved system accreditation, thereby attaining the highest level of national quality accreditation. This means that all the ZU’s study programs – Bachelor, Master and Part-time Master – meet the quality standards and demands of the German Accreditation Council (Akkreditierungsrat | AR).

The special recognition by the Accreditation Council and the accreditation agencies of the quality of our study programs relates to the design of the study program structure and development, the teaching staff and the orientation of the contents, together with the specific teaching and learning formats, additional extra-curricular services and infrastructural framing conditions.

On 5th of June 2020 the ZU was granted the system reaccreditation until the 30th of September 2027 by the Accreditation Council and with support of EVALAG accreditation agency (Mannheim), according to the new german accreditation statutory framework as the first university in Germany.

An internal university accreditation committee (INTAKT), independent of the Rectorate and the Senate, was set up to make the decision for the procedure of the internal study program accreditation and the associated award of the seal on behalf of the Accreditation Council. In INTAKT, the elected professorial members have a significant influence and have at least half of the votes. INTAKT makes decisions based on an internal accreditation report by the board of the relevant study program on the meeting of formal and specialist content criteria of the studies accreditation ordinance of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg (StAkkrVO) and thereby on the internal (re)accreditation of the study program and the award of the Accreditation Council seal. INTAKT here has the organizational support of the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Sector (AQMA).

At the beginning of 2025 , ZU was successfully reaccredited institutionally by the German Council of Science and Humanities (WR) for five years, together with a positive recommendation for a corresponding extension of the right to award doctorates. In this process, the Council examined the academic quality of the institution's teaching and research and determined that it meets the academic standards of a university.

Coordination is currently underway with the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts (MWK) for the corresponding formal extension of ZU's state recognition and the extension of the right to award doctorates, which will be completed in the coming weeks.

Memberships | Networks

The Department "Business and Economics" (Wirtschaftswissenschaften) of ZU is Member of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), a global nonprofit association, that connects educators, students and business to achieve a common goal: to create the next generation of great leaders.

ZU Executive Education (ZUEE), which bundels the ZU executive study programs, is member of the EFMD, a global, non-profit, membership driven organisation dedicated to management development.