Strengthening AI competences at universities
The AI Campus supports higher education institutions in systematically building AI competences in academic studies, teaching and administration. A nationwide consortium led by the Stifterverband is developing offers for all status groups at universities for this purpose. The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space is funding the project "Strengthening AI competences at higher education institutions" from January 2026 to March 2029 with approximately 6.9 million euros.
With the EU AI Act, new requirements for the competent and responsible use of artificial intelligence in the higher education sector have become binding. The project “Strengthening AI Competences at Higher Education Institutions” addresses these requirements and provides nationwide services from higher education institutions for higher education institutions in Germany.
Based on the AI Campus, which has been established as a non-profit learning platform, open educational resources (OER) and open educational technologies (open source) are made available to higher education institutions and their member groups. A cross-state consortium develops scalable services for the targeted qualification of students, lecturers, and staff. The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space funds the initiative as part of the Hightech Agenda Germany.
The joint project “Strengthening AI Competences at Higher Education Institutions” is coordinated by the Stifterverband and is implemented together with eight higher education and research partners. A central focus of the partners is on cross-institutional and cross-state synergies and strategic decisions in order to permanently anchor AI competences in study, teaching and administration.
In addition to the core consortium partners, interested higher education institutions have the opportunity to participate as associate partners and actively support the project objectives. All information on how to apply can be found in the information sheet for associate partnerships. The consortium admits new associate partners twice a year at the start of each semester.
Stifterverband, together with the AI Campus office, assumes the management and coordination of the collaborative project. It coordinates collaboration with partners, the development of needs-based learning opportunities, as well as their quality assurance and transfer into relevant communities.
RWTH Aachen is continuously developing and producing new courses for students and lecturers. In addition, the university is exploring integration scenarios for in-person events, documenting good practices, and providing technical support for connecting AI tools to the AI Campus, for example through single sign-on, learning assistants, and chatbots.
Humboldt University of Berlin promotes the development of AI competences in studies, teaching, and administration through the further development of existing courses and the creation of new learning opportunities. In doing so, it takes into account legal requirements such as the EU AI Act and supports academic reflection and evaluation of project activities.
The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) develops courses and materials on educational technologies and AI participation. It also supports the integration of AI functionalities into the Moodle LMS, develops AI-based learning assistants, and supports transfer as well as evaluation.
The Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University develops and updates AI competence courses for students, lecturers and staff based on the AI Campus. In addition, it is expanding the “Academic Work with AI” offer, developing further training measures for specific AI application cases and extending the individual AI competence audit.
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf is strengthening the development of AI competences in studies, teaching, and further education through the curricular integration of basic courses and supplementary offerings. In addition, it is developing flexible, reusable materials and contributing to the development of standards and workflows for open educational resources.
FernUniversität in Hagen identifies and integrates demand-oriented learning opportunities into its study programmes and advises other universities on the use of AI Campus offerings. In addition, it is responsible for the provision, maintenance and further development of the AI Campus Moodle instances and is expanding the AI Campus Hub NRW as a central point of contact.
The Technical University of Munich is developing a content and methodological framework to expand its existing offer and defines a sample module as the basis for new teaching formats. In addition, it is developing a modular assessment concept, testing and evaluating the modules, and publishing them as open educational resources.
The Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen is developing transdisciplinary future skills courses for students and lecturers with a focus on AI competences and is integrating these into the AI Campus. In addition, it is further developing existing learning opportunities, supplementing courses with AI-based learning assistants, and is actively involved in regional networks for innovation and transfer.
