Prof. Dr. Frank Ziegele

Prof. Dr Frank Ziegele is Executive Director of CHE. His work focuses on all aspects of higher education management, higher education development and higher education policy. He is involved, among other things, in change and strategy processes at higher education institutions and has developed concepts and practical solutions for higher education funding. He is active worldwide in international higher education development projects.

Prof. Ziegele has been working at CHE since 1996. In parallel, he is Professor of Higher Education and Research Management at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, where he heads the MBA programme in Higher Education and Research Management and the Master’s programme in Research and Innovation in Higher Education. He has also held teaching appointments at various higher education institutions, advised ministries and universities as well as organisations such as the World Bank and the European Commission, and served as Executive Director at CHE Consult.

Frank Ziegele studied Economics at the University of Hohenheim and earned his PhD at Ruhr University Bochum with a dissertation on “Universities and financial autonomy”.

In addition, he serves as co-editor or advisory board member of several academic journals, is a board member of FORTRAMA Forschungs- und Transfermanagement e.V. and of KOWI (the EU liaison office of German research organisations). Together with Ulrich Müller, he authored the book Die authentische Hochschule (2024). Since 2025, Frank Ziegele has been a member of the Brandenburg State Higher Education Council (Landeshochschulrat).