High employee potential for the optical industry due to an excellent higher education network.

• Around a quarter of students in disciplines related to optics study in Baden-Württemberg, which places the south-west well above the average for Germany.

• Over a fifth of graduates throughout Germany graduating in courses of study related to optics are from Baden-Württemberg.

• The intensive effort which Baden-Württemberg has made in the various branches of the optical technologies is underlined by the special courses offered at universities and specialist higher education establishments. At seven universities (Freiburg, Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Constance, Stuttgart, Tübingen and Ulm) and eight specialist higher education establishments (Aalen, Esslingen, Furtwangen, Heilbronn, Constance, Offenburg, Ravensburg-Weingarten and Reutlingen) courses are offered in the main aspects of optical technologies. There are around 72 lecture courses on offer.

• The universities of Baden-Württemberg run a multitude of famous teaching and research institutes in optical technologies, including internationally acclaimed facilities such as the Institute for Radiation Tools (IFSW) and the Institute for Technical Optics (ITO) at the University of Stuttgart, the Centre for Applied Photonics (CAP) at the University of Constance and the Technical Light Institute (LTI) and Institute for Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Karlsruhe.

• As part of the Excellence Initiative, the “Karlsruhe School of Optics and Photonics” (KSOP) was founded at the University of Karlsruhe in 2006. This facility, which is unique in Germany, collaborates in the field of optics and photonics with 12 institutes of the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) and other partners.

* Courses of study related to optical technology (OT): IT, physics, electronics, general engineering, mechanical/process engineering
Source: German Office of Statistics