25 years of education at the Institute for Facility Management

As the Swiss competence center for real estate and facility management, the Institute of Facility Management (IFM) at the ZHAW organizes an annual meeting day for experts from research and practice. The 2025 edition, which took place on March 7, was a very special one, as it celebrated 25 years of education at the IFM. In his welcome address, Michael Kauer, Co-Institute Director, mentioned the 1,500 or so graduates who have successfully completed training or further education since 2000 and why there will and must be many more: "AI cannot replace working with and for people." Isabelle Wrase, Co-Institute Director, spoke about the vision for establishing the IFM as a leading educational and research institution for real estate, workplace, facility and hospitality management by 2029: "We don't just want to impart knowledge, we also want to help shape it."

Milestones and personalities in education at the IFM

The first item on the program was dedicated to the anniversary. In her review, Irene Arnold, head of the Bachelor Facility Management course, pointed out the milestone that is now being celebrated. In 2000, an application was submitted to the Federal Council to rename the course "Facility Management". Looking back, it was mainly people who had their say. Thomas Wehrmüller, who co-founded the institute, mentioned the resistance until it was recognized as a university degree course, as people doubted the scientific nature of this discipline.

Barbara Keller Foletti, former Head of Continuing Education, emphasized the leadership skills that have always been central to continuing education. Alexa Müller, a graduate of the Bachelor's degree course, spoke about the versatility of the course, which she can now use in her job as the manager of several shopping centers. Lukas Windlinger, a lecturer at the IFM since 2002, reported on the changes in teaching, both in terms of technology - from paper and overhead projectors to AI - and in learning itself. Today, personal responsibility is very important. Graduate Matthias Ruoss emphasized the importance of the network that he was able to build up during his studies and from which he benefits today.

Managing desirable futures

The keynote speaker, futurologist Senem Wicki, spoke about managing the future and took the audience on a journey through time. Many people would manage the future - in the past more oracles, today more Silicon Valley - but actually thinking about the future is something we do every day, because we only have to do it when we go shopping. In a thought experiment, Senem Wicki let the audience spend a morning in the year 2035 and talked about why it is not so easy to imagine this. Thanks to exponential developments, the future is becoming broader. However, this also triggers fears, which tends to narrow the focus. This creates a gap in our imagination: A great deal would be possible, but we can't see it. Senem Wicki advocated expanding the scope of imagination and focusing on which values are important to us. In this way, it would be possible to work towards this desirable future.

Requirements for future graduates

After the coffee break, three workshops focused on the education of the future in facility management. Two topics emerged in the "Learning" workshop. On the one hand, the modular and flexible structure of the course, and on the other, the role of the campus. Studying on site makes sense if you can and want to use the campus as a campus. The "Trends" workshop focused heavily on processes and their standardization and optimization. This is the only way to analyze data in a meaningful way. The contribution of young people to shaping the future was also discussed. The "Skills" workshop posed the question of what graduates should be able to do in 2030. Designing service worlds is an important skill. And as there will be a lot of change, you have to be able to take people with you on this journey.

Source: www.zhaw.ch