History of the ZAK

60 years of interdisciplinary teaching, 20 years of cultural studies research, 10 years ZAK – the ZAK as inherent part of the KIT looks back on an eventful history: The extracurricular studies were founded in 1949 at the Fridericiana and existed since 1972/73 as central facility at the Technical University. Hence it has a long tradition at the University of Karlsruhe.

In 1983 the research unit for cultural studies was established, followed by the Institute for Applied Cultural Science (IAK), which was to be the direct predecessor institution of the ZAK. As different departments of the University of Karlsruhe were involved at the institute, the interdisciplinary and interfaculty aspects were strengthened. In July 2002 the Institute for Applied Cultural Science (IAK) and the General Studies of the University of Karlsruhe (TH) merged to one interdisciplinary facility of distinction: The ZAK was born.