1. An open communicative system for everyone.

Stud.IP users are not alone in the vastness of the Internet; instead they have the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas with other users. For this purpose Stud.IP provides various communication channels, which fulfil many different user scenarios and expectations. Activity is given emphasis over simply settling for passive information reception. All users have access to the same basic features and are treated equally.

2. Taking students seriously.

On Stud.IP students won't be treated as objects to be administered, observed and supervised; instead they are the most important group, which actively, autonomously, and creatively breathes life into the system. For this reason students are denoted “authors” on Stud.IP. They draft contributions to discussions, make files and learning modules available, and can also publish information over themselves freely and flexibly in a manner similar to lecturers.

3. Attractive and consistent user interface.

Simple handling and a balanced, sophisticated layout give greater emphasis than the possibility to give every course an individual design. A consistent user interface ensures that contents receive more emphasis than design and finding, more than searching. However, in this context, operation, scope of functions and design do not form three “competing” poles but rather depend on and support one another.

4. Orientation to German university structures.

Stud.IP was designed to be able to accommodate large numbers of university courses from all universities. As a consequence, proven categorical structures form the basis of its organisation and permission structure, and facilitate the orientation in large data stocks. Faculties and subjects, degree programmes und fields of study, and semesters are mapped 1:1 in Stud.IP. As a result of the continuous further development by the many institutions which already use Stud.IP, the system develops with the universities and not isolated from them.

5. Decentralized input and maintenance of data.

Only when pieces of information are also changed where they arise, can an up-to-date [and reliable] information system come into being. The input and maintenance of data therefore occurs as decentrally as possible and as centrally as required. Every user maintains his or her personal data, lecturers provide support for their courses, faculty administrators administer the staff lists of their facilities, and a room administrator primarily allocates rooms to be used. Central interventions and restrictions by the administrators are transparent, i.e. users are informed of alterations of their data and can inspect anything concerning them which has been saved at any time.

6. Support for everyone instead of special features for a few.

Users with technical know-how and ambitious special desires need Stud.IP less urgently than students and lecturers with fears of contacts or little desire and time to familiarise themselves with complex processes. Stud.IP has been primarily conceived for users who expect basic, easy to use and manageable support of their work. For this reason the possibility of coupling, for example, extensive content projects with Stud.IP should only be used cautiously.

7. The least possible technical requirements for users.

Stud.IP has no special technical requirements beyond Internet access and a web browser. The system can be used with any common, current browser. JavaScript and special plug-ins are not required for the basic functions of the system.