Mission & Corporate Design

Our campus. Together. Emission-free.

Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences has no shortage of outstanding qualities: It is one of the largest universities of applied sciences in the state of Baden-Württemberg and amongst those with the strongest research capabilities, and for years it has performed very well in rankings such as the renowned CHE university ranking in the ZEIT study guide.

Practical orientation and an international focus in teaching are writ large at HKA. A key component is the practical semester, which students complete in a company of their choice. In most cases, the final thesis is also written in a company; many students get to know their future employer here. A key quality feature is also the good supervision situation. Students study in small groups and are supported by numerous tutorials. At an early stage they can work on research projects, gain experience and, on this basis, pursue an academic career.

Comprehensive sustainable campus and university development

Two years ago we were able to launch a broad-based initiative to make the university "fit" for the future – its green campus is now to actually become a "green" campus. "We see this as an opportunity," says President Prof. Dr. Frank Artinger, "to approach university and campus development as a whole, and to do so in a participatory manner, i.e. with our students, staff, and professors."

On the way to an emission-free campus

"New ways of mobility, of using and generating energy, of sustainable use and construction of buildings – we will fundamentally change the face and perception of our university in accordance with the vision 'emission-free campus 2030+' in the next few years, and we will continue to do so with the participation of university staff in agile processes," says Prof. Dr. Robert Pawlowski, Vice-President for Development, Construction and Infrastructure. "The existing building stock will be supplemented with ecologically and economically sensible solutions and expanded with new buildings in sustainable construction. Social spaces for the exchange of students, professors and staff will be created and campus life will become more attractive."

What does the "HKA" brand represent?

It quickly became clear that a change towards this new orientation would change the university in all fields and affect all university members. Under the coordination of a specially established steering board, interdisciplinary working groups were formed for the individual fields of work in order to collect ideas and develop proposals. Together with the Capitale agency (Berlin, Vienna) it was possible to define the new corporate identity and thus also the associated brand of the university via a university-wide communication process. As a result, the central brand values "competent", "practice-oriented" and "passionate" were assigned many individual attributes around the brand core, which together make up the brand and will be emphasized more strongly in the future for better public perception.

The university's new image

In the following university-wide communication process, Capitale was able to develop a new corporate design in line with the identified CI, which was discussed with representatives of all university institutions at another strategy meeting and was finally adopted.