The IFM Institute of Facility Management is an interdisciplinary teaching and research institute of the ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences. We want to contribute to developing and managing living and working environments in a sustainable and healthy way. Sustainable real estate, digital FM, healthy workplaces and FM in health care are our research priorities.

Our fourfold mandate includes teaching in the bachelor’s and master’s degree programs with around 250 students, the doctoral program, research and development projects with cooperation and business partners, consulting services and a comprehensive range of continuing education courses. With the international doctoral program launched in 2016, we contribute to the promotion of young scientists.

We impart knowledge through the interplay of interdisciplinary competence and diverse didactic methods. We offer high-quality and practice-oriented teaching. In the bachelor’s and master’s degree programs as well as in the continuing education courses, the strategic, tactical and operational aspects of real estate and facility management are differentiated.

We generate knowledge through excellent interdisciplinary research to solve complex management challenges and place value on high practical relevance and application orientation.

We implement knowledge that is based on the practical application of scientific findings. Here we can rely on our intensive cooperation with companies, public institutions, associations and other universities at home and abroad.

We make successful real estate and facility management possible.

The research activities of the three Competency Groups at the Institute of Facility Management (IFM) centre around process-related, organisational, methodological and product-driven development and innovation in the field of facility management. Their cutting-edge research and active efforts in terms of transferring knowledge to industry make them an indispensable partner and driving force within the sector. The IFM's application-driven research focuses on current and future economic and social issues.

The Competency Group Business Administration and Human Resources addresses business management and employee-related issues in the field of facility management (FM). It takes a scientific and application-driven approach to its work, and develops robust and practical solutions in collaboration with its clients and cooperation partners.

The Hospitality & Service Management Expert Group researches and works on topics in the context of hospitality and service management. The focus is on stakeholder-centric management of services, for example in healthcare organisations, gastronomic businesses and hotels. In collaboration with our research partners, we examine research questions and develop systematic approaches. With our partners in industry, we analyse problems, develop practicable solutions and support their implementation. Our customers and partners are businesses and institutions of any size.

The Competency Group Real Estate Management researches and develops solutions to FM-related real estate issues. People spend most of their lives in buildings, whether at home or at work, and so the macroeconomic significance of real estate is huge. The Group is actively involved in developing FM-based guidelines for the real estate sector in order to raise the overall economic profile of this field.