Mission Statement
The Mission Statement of the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt was drafted by a committee made up of representatives from the groups of university lecturers, research associates, students and research support staff. After the Presidium had approved this Mission Statement, it was unanimously passed by the Senate in its 375th meeting on July 24, 2019. On October 25, 2019, the University Council also unanimously spoke out in favor of this Mission Statement. With the consent of the University’s Foundation Council, this Mission Statement was published on April 1, 2020.
Foundation and mission
The Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU) is a state-recognized university under church sponsorship. It is open to students of all faiths and beliefs.
The institution was granted university status on April 1, 1980 by the Bavarian bishops on the basis of the Concordat between the Free State of Bavaria and the Holy See and with the approval of the Congregation for Catholic Education. Its roots can be traced back to the 16th century.
The mission of a Catholic university is to dedicate itself to the truth unconditionally. The KU fulfills this mission in scientific autonomy and freedom of research and teaching.
Profile and vision
We consider our University as a place of excellent research. The KU provides its researchers with outstanding working conditions. Fundamental research and science with a practical orientation are assigned equal status. The KU actively supports the promotion of early-career researchers and offers them ample room for their scientific qualification.
The academic freedom at the KU simultaneously presupposes a high degree of social and environmental responsibility. Thus, ethical reflection on the means and consequences of scientific activity is an essential part of the work of KU researchers.
We are committed to offering our students excellent opportunities for academic qualification. At the KU, learning and teaching are closely connected to research and the advancement of scientific knowledge. However, studying at the KU goes far beyond simply acquiring knowledge, for it is only in the process of personal development that students can truly unfold their potential to the fullest. This is why we attach particular importance to imparting social skills and advancing our students’ sense and value orientation in addition to providing them with a high level of academic and methodical qualification. The KU provides an ideal framework for this by offering an excellent staff-to-student ratio. At our University, every student with his or her individual characteristics and talents is seen and supported.
The KU is a cosmopolitan university. In line with the tradition of Catholic universities, it collaborates with higher education institutions and research institutes all over the world and actively promotes staff and teaching mobility. Being a part of the worldwide scientific community, KU researchers benefit from an extensive international network. KU students are given the opportunity to spend a semester or internship abroad and thus have unique possibilities for enriching their studies by adding an international orientation. We take pride in our international campus culture that welcomes lecturers, students and guests from all over the world.
The KU also maintains close ties with diverse partners in the region and engages in a lively discourse with cultural, economic and political players and the church.
The KU is strongly committed to the guiding principle of sustainable development. It is the University’s profound belief that sustainability is an integral component in research, teaching and administration – which is why the KU uses available resources responsibly and efficiently. The KU understands sustainable development as a form of development that is balanced on an ecological, economical and sociocultural level and takes global and intergenerational fairness into account.
Being a family-friendly university, we actively promote the possibility to balance studies, science, work and family life. The KU has defined the key objective of achieving gender equality in all its facilities and decision-making processes and supports career development of women in a special way.
The KU’s profile is also firmly integrated into the field of human resource development and management culture. It becomes evident in an atmosphere of mutual respect and appreciation at all levels as well as in the University’s efforts to identify and promote the potential and talents of its employees. The KU actively supports its members in their personal and professional development.
Core values
As a Catholic University, we are guided by the Christian view of human life that considers all human beings as children of God. In this, we see the inviolable dignity of all human beings, who shape their lives and the world around them in freedom and responsibility, with all their abilities given to them, but also with their weaknesses. At the KU, this way of thinking is rooted in the following three dimensions:
The University’s focus is on the individual person. The talents and potential of all those who teach, study, work and carry out research at the KU form our most important foundation – regardless of their religion or beliefs, nationality, ethical, cultural or social background, disabilities, gender, sexual orientation or age.
The KU wants to serve the common good by exploring and reacting to challenges faced in politics, economy, culture, religion and the environment. Our aspiration for our university is to build bridges between science and society and to make knowledge available for society as well as to integrate impulses from outside the university into our research and teaching practice. We aim to make a valuable contribution to social coexistence, to the free democratic basic order and to preserving creation.
The principle of solidarity becomes evident in an awareness for the responsibility that each and every one of us bears for the University community and is also reflected in a culture of mutual appreciation. Within our understanding of solidarity that resonates well beyond our campus borders, we also believe that it is our obligation to make a contribution to the promotion of justice in the world through research and teaching. To this end, we are making every effort to encourage our students and alumni to take responsibility within our society and for society.
Structurally, the KU has adopted the principle of subsidiarity by respecting the individual responsibility of students, lecturers and employees, as well as of faculties, university committees, central facilities and administrative departments in their respective fields of action.
The Mission Statement was drafted by a committee made up of representatives from the groups of university lecturers, research associates, students and research support staff. After the Presidium had approved this Mission Statement, is was unanimously passed by the Senate in its 375th meeting on July 24, 2019. On October 25, 2019, the University Council also unanimously spoke out in favor of this Mission Statement.
The Foundation Council of the KU also discussed the draft of the Mission Statement on October 25, 2019. The Mission Statement entered into force on April 1, 2020, together with the new KU Foundation Charter.