Your path to getting started at the University of Stuttgart

Dear colleagues! Welcome to our online seminar “Organization and structure of the University of Stuttgart”. In this presentation, we want to give you a quick overview of the overall structure of the university.

After a short look at the wider higher education landscape in Baden-Württemberg, we will focus on the University of Stuttgart in more detail. At the end of our presentation, you will learn about the organizational structure, the most important committees and the Central Administration of the university.

Aside from traditional universities, Baden-Württemberg is also home to many other types of higher education institutions. Examples include universities of applied sciences, pedagogical and cooperative universities as well as universities of arts and music, and academies for film, performing arts and pop music. There are also 28 private universities.

The illustration on the right shows the approximate location of these universities. With its central location, the state capital Stuttgart is particularly well connected.

You can find more information on the website of the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts (MWK).

As you may know, the University of Stuttgart is very young. It was established in 1829 as a “Consolidated Real and Trade School” by King Wilhelm I of Württemberg. It took more than 60 years for it to be recognized as a “Technical University” in 1890. After a further 77 years, it finally became the “University of Stuttgart”.

Despite its short history, the university has many successes to look back on. From 2015 to 2018, the university gained two new Clusters of Excellence: Simulation Technology (SimTech) and Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture (IntCDC).

What started out as a “Consolidated Real and Trade School” is now home to over 24,000 students and over 5,400 employees. This includes around 280 professors, around 25 junior professors and around 3,200 academic members of staff. All these students and academic members of staff rely on technology and administration to run smoothly. There are currently around 1,900 employees working in these departments, which include the Central Administration, the library and the institutes, as well as various technical departments such as the heating plant and our carpentry workshop.

What might be surprising to some of you is that there are also around 60 apprentices in training at the university. In addition to our degree programs, the university offers 17 apprenticeship programs for aspiring industrial mechanics, laboratory chemists and bookbinders, to only name a few.

Our students can choose from 73 bachelor’s and 95 master’s programs.

In 2020, our budget approached €550 million, around half of which was obtained through external funding.

The University of Stuttgart is not only the state capital university of Baden-Württemberg, but is also a member of the TU9, a network of leading technical universities in Germany. Other member universities include the KIT in Karlsruhe, the RWTH Aachen and the TUM in Munich.

On average, each professor at the University of Stuttgart procured around €650,000 in external funding. This means that the University of Stuttgart is one of the top three receivers of external funding amongst German universities.

Our High Performance Computing Center, the HLRS, houses the HAWK, one of the most powerful supercomputers worldwide. You can take a virtual tour of the HAWK to learn more.

The Institute of Automotive Engineering is home to one of the biggest and most powerful driving simulators in Europe.

The University of Stuttgart excels not only in the field of technology. We have received the Corporate Health Award for outstanding health management three times: in 2015, 2018 and 2020.

Are you interested in learning more? Every year, the reporting department publishes a statistical review exploring the University of Stuttgart in numbers, data and facts. If you would like to take a look for yourself, simply click the link below.

How is the University of Stuttgart structured?

The University of Stuttgart is a body governed by public law and is therefore subject to the state’s Higher Education Act, which dictates a few mandatory organizational bodies.

This is an overview of the organizational structure of the University of Stuttgart. At the top are the central bodies as required by section 15 of the state’s Higher Education Act: the University Council, the Rectorate and the Senate. These bodies are supported by further commissions and committees. I would like to focus especially on the Extended Rectorate Board. It is made up of the members of the Rectorate, which will be introduced shortly, and the Deans in charge of the faculties. At the top right, you can see the student representative body stuvus, which works in close collaboration with university leadership.

At the center of the image are the Central Administration and Central Facilities. We will also discuss these in detail later on.

The University of Stuttgart is made up of ten faculties with around 150 institutes. In accordance with section 22 et seqq. of the state’s Higher Education Act, faculties are governed by the Faculty Board and the Faculty Council.

In addition to the faculties, the university also has a few cross-faculty facilities, which cover the areas of teaching and research. Teaching facilities include the Graduate Academy GRADUS, the MINT College and the Professional School of Education run jointly by several universities and higher education institutions.

Research facilities include the International Center for Culture and Technology Research, the Center of Applied Quantum Technology and the Center for Medical Technology, a joint project with the University of Tübingen.

As mentioned before, we now want to take a closer look at the central governing bodies of the university.

The University Council functions as a supervisory board to the university. It oversees the Rectorate’s administrative measures and draws up the structural and development plans as well as the business plan of the university. It is made up of six external und five internal members.

The Rectorate is the central governing body of the university. Its members include the Rector Prof. Ressel, the Chancellor Jan Gerken and a further five Vice Rectors. We will discuss these in further detail on our next slide.

The Senate is one of the most important bodies of the university. It is responsible for setting up, amending and canceling study programs and university facilities, and is also consulted on fundamental research questions. It is made up of members of the Rectorate, the Equal Opportunities Representative, the ten Deans as well as elected representatives of all status groups of the university. Representatives are elected every three years by their respective status groups.

If you would like to learn more about a specific body, simply click on it to open the corresponding website.

We will now introduce the individual members of the Rectorate.

Our Rector Prof. Dr. Wolfram Ressel presides over the Rectorate. He is also in charge of the university’s overall direction.

Our current Chancellor is Jan Gerken. He presides over the Central Administration and various offices of assistants.

The Vice Rectors are responsible for specific subject areas and preside over all related committees and facilities. They usually carry out these responsibilities in addition to their professorial duties. The only exception is the Vice Rector for Information Technology, Dr. Simone Rehm, who is employed full-time as a Vice Rector. She supervises the TIK in subject-specific concerns and defines strategic goals and operative measures for the IT department.

Prof. Dr. Silke Wieprecht is our Vice Rector for Diversity and International Affairs. She works on furthering equal opportunities and diversity. She is also responsible for the university’s international strategy.

The Vice Rector for Research and Young Scientists is Prof. Dr. Manfred Bischoff. He focuses on questions concerning research and young scientists. This includes creating a framework and improving the visibility of research at the university, as well as optimizing the environment for young scientists and providing them with career opportunities.

The current Vice Rector for Teaching and Continuing Education is Prof. Dr. Frank Gießelmann. He is the point of contact for general questions on teaching and continuing education at the university. He presides over the Senate Committees on Teaching and Continuing Education and on Teacher Education.

Prof. Dr. Peter Middendorf is the Vice Rector for Knowledge and Technology Transfer. His duties include expanding the foundations of knowledge in disciplinary basic research and making knowledge and technology accessible to third parties.

You can learn more about our university management by clicking on the following link.

Faculties are governed by two central bodies: the Dean's office and the Faculty Council.

The Dean’s office is made up of the Dean, the Vice Deans and the Deans of Undergraduate and Graduate Studies. There are specific guidelines for the structure of each individual faculty’s office.

The Faculty Council consists of the members of the Dean’s office, up to five heads of institutes and up to 16 elected members from various status groups. There must be at least three student members, and students make up 30 percent of elected members. Elections are held at regular intervals.

Let’s now move on to the Central Administration.

It is made up of eight divisions, the Chancellor’s office and various offices of assistants.

Every division has individual responsibilities. Departments are set up within the divisions to address specific subject areas. The eight divisions are: “Research and Transfer”, “International Office”, “Students’ Affairs”, “Personnel and Legal Affairs”, “Finances”, “Building Operations”, “Central Services” and “Planning and Construction”.

Offices of assistants are usually in charge of coordinative tasks and report directly to the Chancellor.

Click the link below to open the complete and current organizational chart, which also shows the heads of all divisions and departments.

The Central Administration is accompanied by the Central Facilities. These are responsible for high-level administrative tasks.

The Central Facilities include the aforementioned HLRS and the University Library.

The University of Stuttgart has several counseling centers that offer support on a confidential basis. You can find a small selection with links below. Simply click on a counseling center to learn more.

Before we conclude, we would like to draw your attention to the personnel development newsletter. You can subscribe to stay up to date with personnel development and our events.

We hope that this presentation furthered your understanding of the structure of the University of Stuttgart. My team and myself will be happy to help you with any questions or suggestions. Feel free to reach out.