The EdTechX Leviathan Award recognises established, high-growth companies that are shaping the future of digital education and workforce development. IU Group once again impressed the jury with its global expansion, innovative use of technology, and unwavering commitment to delivering truly personalised education experiences.

“This award reinforces our mission to make high-quality education accessible to all,” said Dr Sven Schütt, CEO of IU Group. “It’s a powerful acknowledgement of the impact our team is making worldwide. We remain focused on innovation and inclusion — empowering learners everywhere to reach their full potential.”

The award was presented during the EdTechX Awards ceremony in London to Dr Marian Bodenstedt (COO Online DACH), Stephan Schäfer (Director Pre-Sales OnCampus), and Edward Harland-Lang (Head of Growth, Walbrook Institute London). The physical award is now displayed at the Walbrook Institute London, IU Group’s UK-based subsidiary, as a symbol of IU’s presence and growing community in the UK.

Held annually since 2013, the EdTechX Awards are among the most influential accolades in the educational technology sector, spotlighting companies that demonstrate sustained growth, transformative innovation, and measurable impact. The finalists and winners are widely regarded as key drivers of global change in education.

To learn more about the EdTechX Awards, please visit: https://impactx2050.com/edtechx/awards-2025

Erfurt, Germany, 9 November 2022: For the first time, more than 100,000 students are studying at IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU). IU is further expanding its pioneering role as the largest university in Germany. Since the start of its teaching operations in 2000, IU has been giving more and more people access to education, and thanks to digitally supported learning formats it is setting new standards for personalised learning. A third of all students at private German universities decide to study at IU.

More educational equity and fewer barriers to entry

Today, people from over 170 nations study at the private, state-recognised university with 18 percent of all its students being international (non-nationals) – well above the national average. Thanks to flexible study models, German- and English-language programmes and digitally supported learning opportunities, students can study at IU from anywhere in the world around the clock. At the main campus in Erfurt and at more than 30 other locations in Germany, potential students can study dual studies and create the best conditions for their career start with the help of more than 15,000 IU practice partners. In almost every German city as well as worldwide, IU gives prospective students access to their ideal study model - whether dual, distance or hybrid. At 16 percent, the proportion of students without a (technical) high school diploma at IU is seven times higher than the average in Germany.

Thuringia, Germany’s Minister of Economics, Science and Digital Society, Wolfgang Tiefensee congratulates on this milestone: "IU, based in the Thuringian state capital of Erfurt, is an enrichment for the German university landscape. With its personalised and digitised courses, it helps to open up new professional and educational opportunities for people in a wide variety of life situations. The increasing number of students shows that these offers are obviously being accepted - also because they can be easily integrated into everyday life. IU is therefore an important component of our diverse and modern education system.”

IU continues to expand educational opportunities and tech expertise for international students

Prospective students can choose from more than 200 study programmes in both English and German at the bachelor's and master's levels and benefit from the constant further development of the offer. Overall, the most popular study subjects at IU include social work, business administration and psychology, while the most popular degree programmes amongst international students are MBA, social work and computer science. With around 20,000 active students in the social work department, IU is the largest academic trainer for social professions in Germany. In addition, digital know-how is increasingly in focus: subjects in the IT and technology areas such as artificial intelligence and data science are meeting with steadily growing interest among students.

Using interactive, digital learning tools such as the IU Learn App with learning videos and over 600 online scripts, students find the best individual way to learn and deepen the material. A dedicated team of tech specialists at IU is constantly working on new innovative solutions. "Digitally supported learning and teaching offers as well as digitised processes play a decisive role for the great flexibility in the design of a course of study with us at IU and for a positive learning experience overall," explains Prof. Dr. Holger Sommerfeldt, Rector of IU International University of Applied Sciences.

Best chances for the jobs of the future – for everyone

More than ever, tech expertise is a key competence for the transformation in the economy. Graduates of these subjects are in great demand and have very good chances on the job market. "This is an essential criterion for us when we introduce a new course," emphasizes Sommerfeldt. "We not only want to give as many people as possible access to higher education and enable them to participate more in the social debates of our time, but also train them for the jobs of the future at the same time."

The high proportion of students who come from non-academic families is particularly pleasing: at IU, it is 70 percent and thus well above the German average. At 64 percent, the proportion of women among IU students is also higher than in the national comparison and has grown steadily over the past six years. "Diversity and equal opportunities are two important pillars of the IU philosophy, which are reflected in the profile of our students," emphasizes Holger Sommerfeldt.

Professional and personal exchange remains important

Despite the great importance of digitisation and technology, personal contact with and among the students is always the top priority. Professors and academic staff are on hand to offer students professional advice and support. Study coaches and study guides support students both in distance learning and on-site with the challenges of everyday study and accompany them individually on their learning journey.
 

ABOUT IU INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES 
(PART OF IU GROUP)

With more than 130,000 students, IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU) is the largest university in Germany. The private, state-approved educational institution with its main campus in Erfurt brings together more than 250 bachelor's and master's programmes under one roof, which are offered in German or English. Students can choose between dual studies, distance learning and myStudies, which combines online and face-to-face events, and design their studies independently with the help of a digitally supported learning environment. In addition, IU enables further training and promotes the idea of lifelong learning. The aim of the university is to give as many people as possible worldwide access to personalised education. IU started operations in 2000 and is now represented in more than 35 German cities. It cooperates with over 15,000 companies and actively supports them in the development of their employees. The partners include Motel One, VW Financial Services and Deutsche Bahn. Further information at: iu.org. 

Erfurt, 01 July 2022. IU International University of Applied Sciences is strengthening itself with a newly constituted advisory board, to support its mission: providing education that is accessible for all through digitalised, personalised learning to impart the skills that will be key tomorrow. The advisory board of Germany's largest university will include outstanding thought leaders from science, business and politics: Dr. Frank Weise, former Chairman of the Board of the Federal Employment Agency in Germany, Prof. Dr. Tobias Bonhoeffer, neurobiologist and researcher of learning processes, Ambassador Kamissa Camara, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Digital Economy and Planning of the Republic of Mali,
Dr. Karina Montilla Edmonds, Global Head of Academies and University Alliances at the software company SAP, Raffaela Rein and Lucy Stonehill, entrepreneurs in the field of digital education, and Jimmy Wales, co-founder of the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia (for further information about the advisory board members, please refer to the Appendix).
 

Strategic support for a global education mission 

With the expertise and diverse experience of its members in central strategic fields of IU, the advisory board will comprehensively advise the university in its further development – including the strategic orientation of IU, its study formats and the university’s global growth. IU's goal is to further expand its creative power as a driver of progressive higher education both in Germany and internationally and to establish itself as a globally relevant provider of digital education (EdTech). Dr. Frank Weise will chair the IU Advisory Board. This was decided by the members at yesterday’s constituent meeting of the board.

"IU has set itself the goal of nothing less than the education of the future, thereby addressing one of the fundamental questions of our time – for society as a whole and for each and every one of us. The technology-driven transformation of our economies will only be successful if we provide the right offers for all our talents to learn throughout their lives. In order to stay together as a society, we must ensure that everyone has a fair chance to achieve social participation through education. The IU already offers many convincing answers to this. Together with my colleagues on the advisory board, I look forward to supporting them on their further journey," says Dr. Frank Weise.
 

Digital innovation for new educational opportunities 

At the state-approved IU International University of Applied Sciences, students can learn in a self-determined way – when, where and how it suits their personal needs and possibilities – with the help of a digitally supported learning environment. This is made possible by specially developed proprietary platforms such as the virtual campus and the IU Learn App. Many IU students would not be able to study at a traditional university, as they are dependent on income from their employment, for example, or on maximum time flexibility due to family commitments. At IU, students can choose from a variety of study models, combine online and face-to-face courses and customise their study content. IU's proprietary teaching and learning platform sets standards with its end-to-end digitalisation from content creation to delivery. At the same time, IU is pushing ahead with its continuous further development, increasingly also relying on the integration of artificial intelligence in order to meet individual educational needs even better and to enable optimal learning experiences and results.

Dr. Sven Schütt, CEO of IU: “At IU, we rely on technological advancement to fulfil a deeply human purpose: to enable each and every one to grow and develop individual talents. This shared mission makes us strong as a team; our success as EdTech-innovators thrives on creativity, diversity of perspectives and mutual inspiration. That's why I'm particularly glad that we've been able to attract such bright minds and inspiring personalities from many different fields to keep challenging us from the outside as well and to set new impulses.”
 

Profiles of the members of the IU Advisory Board

Dr. Frank Weise was Chairman of the Executive Board of the German Federal Employment Agency from 2004 to 2017 and simultaneously Head of the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees between 2015 and 2016. Dr. Frank Weise is one of Germany's leading experts on the future of education and employment and has also been involved in recent years as a board member of the non-profit Hertie Foundation and as President of Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe.
 

Prof. Dr. Tobias Bonhoeffer is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence (in foundation). The German American scientist works intensively on the cellular foundations of learning and memory. With his ground-breaking research, he reveals the biological foundations of learning and how new information can be processed more effectively. Besides his directorship of at the Max Planck Institute, he holds professorships at the Ludwigs-Maximilians University, Munich, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim and the University of Capetown.
 

Ambassador Kamissa Camara was Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Mali and the youngest person to hold that office as well as Minister of Digital Economy and Planning. In 2016, she advised Hillary Clinton in her US presidential election campaign. Today, she is involved with “The United States Institute of Peace”. Ambassador Kamissa Camara, born in France, is a political and intellectual translator between Africa and the West and is particularly committed to global educational justice.  
 

Dr. Karina Montilla Edmonds lives in California and works at the interface between science and business at the software company SAP. She promotes knowledge transfer between research and the private sector and aims to attract young talent to careers in technology. Previously, Dr. Karina Edmonds was responsible for cooperation with universities in the field of machine learning for Google.
 

Raffaela Rein is an EdTech-expert and a formative protagonist in the European start-up, VC and tech industry. In 2018, the business magazine Forbes named her one of "Europe's Top 50 Women in Tech". With Career Foundry, Raffaela Rein founded Europe's largest online training platform in the field of user experience design. 
 

Lucy Stonehill, being the founder of BridgeU, literally builds bridges between school, higher education and professional life, using data-driven decision-making to support students in post-secondary planning. Her EdTech-company uses artificial intelligence to advise students in 139 countries on academic prospects and supports them in applying to universities worldwide.
 

Jimmy Wales is a US entrepreneur and strong advocate for the democratisation of knowledge. With the founding of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales has realised his vision of a comprehensive, neutral platform that unites the world's knowledge, leverages collective intelligence and is freely accessible.
 

ABOUT IU INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES (PART OF IU GROUP)

With more than 130,000 students, IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU) is the largest university in Germany. The private, state-approved educational institution with its main campus in Erfurt brings together more than 250 bachelor's and master's programmes under one roof, which are offered in German or English. Students can choose between dual studies, distance learning and myStudies, which combines online and face-to-face events, and design their studies independently with the help of a digitally supported learning environment. In addition, IU enables further training and promotes the idea of lifelong learning. The aim of the university is to give as many people as possible worldwide access to personalised education. IU started operations in 2000 and is now represented in more than 35 German cities. It cooperates with over 15,000 companies and actively supports them in the development of their employees. The partners include Motel One, VW Financial Services and Deutsche Bahn. Further information at: iu.org. 

Erfurt, 30 March 2022. Germany's largest university, IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU), has taken its educational mission to a new level for its more than 3,000 employees, bundling its internal advanced training offerings in the learning management system "IU Learning Hub" since June 2021. Embedded in Microsoft365, the system has been seamlessly integrated into employees' existing working environment, making it intuitive to use and requiring no further log-in. Employees can take around 550 courses in different areas - from IT application trainings to specialist trainings, soft skills trainings and language courses – anytime they want to acquire specialist knowledge and develop their personal interests. The range of courses offered in German and English is constantly being expanded; to this end, IU takes up feedback from learners in order to design the selection in such a way that it offers the best possible benefit for employees. As part of the onboarding process, new IU employees take a comprehensive learning path in the IU Learning Hub and thus gain an intensive insight into the internal advanced training platform right from the start.

The fast implementation of the IU project with its provider LMS365, the seamless integration of the learning management system into the IU working environment and the variety of course offerings - both in terms of content and learning formats - convinced the eLearning Journal. Thus, the IU Learning Hub received the award "Project of the Year 2022" in the category "University".

"Personal development and professional training are core values for us as an educational institution. With our IU Learning Hub, we have now firmly established this important component of our learning culture for our more than 3,000 employees. This provides them with a contemporary learning experience in the sense of self-determined, time- and location-independent learning at the highest level," explains Tim Kaltenborn, Director People Organization & Culture at IU International University of Applied Sciences. "That's why we're pleased to be named 'Project of the Year 2022' by eLearning Journal, but especially thrilled that our IU Learning Hub is being used so extensively by employees."

With around 30,000 successfully completed training courses since its introduction and a constantly increasing usage rate - almost 90 per cent of employees already take advantage of the learning offer - IU Learning Hub has established itself as the company's central training platform in a short time. One crucial factor for the success is the wide range of the course offer: "The IU Learning Hub offers me a variety of opportunities to acquire new competences and skills - this helps me to develop both, professionally and personally," says Sonja Zeller, website project manager at IU. "It allows me to continuously develop within my current role, but also learn new things outside of work." The trainings meet the needs of both, experienced employees as well as those just starting their careers. "As a dual student, I particularly benefit from the IU Learning Hub, because on the one hand I have acquired a much more secure handling of software systems and on the other hand I have built up my own motivation and learning strategy," confirms Jessica Barczyk, who is currently working as a trainee in the Human Resources department at IU. Another benefit that employees emphasise is the ease of use: the process from requesting participation to approval by the supervisor to the start of the course is fully automated and digital. "The best thing is that I can flexibly choose the slots I want to learn so it fits in with my working day and daily rhythm. This allows me to learn in a relaxed and successful way," confirms Jörg Doebler, who works as an IT project manager at IU. "All courses are stored in my personal dashboard, so I can jump straight into a course at any time or pick up where I left off last time.“
 

ABOUT IU INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES 
(PART OF IU GROUP)

With more than 130,000 students, IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU) is the largest university in Germany. The private, state-approved educational institution with its main campus in Erfurt brings together more than 250 bachelor's and master's programmes under one roof, which are offered in German or English. Students can choose between dual studies, distance learning and myStudies, which combines online and face-to-face events, and design their studies independently with the help of a digitally supported learning environment. In addition, IU enables further training and promotes the idea of lifelong learning. The aim of the university is to give as many people as possible worldwide access to personalised education. IU started operations in 2000 and is now represented in more than 35 German cities. It cooperates with over 15,000 companies and actively supports them in the development of their employees. The partners include Motel One, VW Financial Services and Deutsche Bahn. Further information at: iu.org.