Educational Transfer
Educational transfer is an integral part of studies and teaching. In transfer-oriented learning settings, the University and society come together to develop solutions to challenges on topics of strategic relevance for our future (such as sustainability, digitalization, or peacekeeping). The Department of Educational Transfer is managed by the University of Freiburg’s vice president of academic affairs and includes both continuing education and the Center for Key Qualifications.
Continuing education is a core responsibility of the University. Our continuing education unit supports mutual transfer with society as well as industry and uses the positive interactions with undergraduate university teaching, master’s programmes, and research to design a diverse and innovative programme of in-service module and certificate courses for targeted qualification and transfer-oriented networking among specialists and managers.
SÜDWISSEN – The network and the central platform for continuing education at universities in Baden-Württemberg
Since summer 2025 the SÜDWISSENoffice, which is based at the University of Freiburg, has coordinated and guided the state university network for continuing education by and at universities, as well as running the Südwissen.de platform and organising its strategic marketing.
The platform brings together more than 1,000 opportunities for continuing education from the 48 state colleges and universities in Baden-Württemberg and ensures that companies or individuals interested in training are aware of the opportunities on offer. The scale and diversity of the network enables the development and organisation of tailored continuing education offers for industry and society that take account of current challenges and the necessary transformation processes.
The Federal State of Baden-Württemberg provided structural funding for this for the first time in 2025-26. Under the auspices of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts (MWK), the universities concluded a cooperation agreement as part of the state’s interdisciplinary continuing education offensive.
The Centre for Key Qualifications (ZfS) promotes interdisciplinary and practice-oriented skills so that students can shape their personal and professional development in a self-determined manner based on their strengths, resources and experiences, take on responsibility in society and actively participate in shaping transformation processes.
With its diverse teaching programme in the field of career-oriented skills, its offerings for teacher training students and its certificates, the ZfS is a recognised strength in the area of teaching at the University of Freiburg. More than 200 experts from business, science and society, including numerous alumni, design a programme of around 350 courses per year. In knowledge transfer-oriented formats such as service learning or the sustainability certificate, students gain direct insights into the ways to shape our society.
