Katrin Kraus

Professorin für Berufs- und Weiterbildung / Professor of Vocational Education and Training and Adult Education

Focus Topics

Education, work and society
Work-related learning: vocational education, professional development, in-company training, workplace learning, learning in and for simple work / low-skilled work and in the context of self-employment
Educational governance in VET and adult education; including international comparison
Actor- and subject-oriented approaches to work-related education
Theory of Space and Place, Appropriation, sites of learning and architecture

since 2021 Chair for Vocational Education and Training and Adult Education at the University of Zurich; 2009–2014 professor for adult education and continuing education at the University for Teacher Education FHNW; previously held various positions at the universities of Trier, Zurich, Konstanz, Heidelberg, and Osnabrück as well as at the University of Education Freiburg i.B.
2015-2021, member of the Executive Board of the University for Teacher Education FHNW, responsible for the continuing professional education department and head of the Institute for Continuing Education and Counseling
Working as adult educator since 1996

Studied educational science and German language and literature at the University of Trier, graduating in October 1999 with a degree in education, specializing in continuing education.
Doctorate at the University of Zurich with the thesis «From Vocation to Employability? On the Theory of Earning-oriented Education» in April 2005
Habilitation at the Helmut Schmidt University of Hamburg with the thesis «Education in the Context of Social Change and Transformation of Society: Adult Education and Vocational Education and Training» in June 2012 // at the University of Education Freiburg i.B. in June 2014 with the venia legendi for educational science with a focus on adult education/continuing education and vocational education

Zurich University of Applied Sciences Council (link only in German)
Member of the editorial board of the Journal for Research on Adult Education (link only in German)
Member of the editorial board of Education Permanente – Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Weiterbildung (i.e. Permanent Education – Swiss Journal for Continuing Education) (link in German, French, and Italian)
Co-editor of the series “Erwachsenenbildung und lebenslanges Lernen” (i.e. Adult Education and Life-long Learning”) (wbv media) (link only in German)
Chairwoman of the Schweizerische Gesellschaft für angewandte Berufsbildungsforschung (i.e. Swiss Society for Applied Research in Vocational Education and Training) (link in German, French, and Italian)
Chairwoman of the Division Adult Education of the German Educational Research Association (GERA) (link only in German)
Member of the board of trustees of the Volkshochschule beider Basel (link only in German)
Member of the scientific advisory board of the PIAAC Switzerland («Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competences», link in German, French, and Italian)
Reviewer for various universities, research funding institutions, and journals (German/English)

ZORA Publication List (link only in German)