The first Berufsakademie was founded in 1974 as a new type of educational institution and recognized by the state of Baden-Württemberg in 1982.

Job integrated learning (JIL) defines those work integrated learning (WIL) programs with compulsory internships, in which the student has to be employed by a single company during the complete duration of the study program and in which lectures and internships are geared to maximize applied learning and the transfer of knowledge.

The dual education program operates on a non-stop, twelve-month schedule.

[4] Partner companies in the field of information technology are, e.g., SAP, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, Atos and Accenture.

Examples in engineering are Airbus, Siemens, Bosch, Freudenberg and Ziehl-Abegg.