On the afternoon of 28 October 2024, three generations of rectors of TU Wien stood for a discussion at the highest level, in which the challenges of the present, experiences of the past and the future positioning of TU Wien were examined. The event was moderated by Barbara Stöckl, who herself is a TUW graduate of Technical Mathematics and still has close ties to her university.

past – present – fuTUre

Although the focus was on TU Wien as an institution, it quickly became clear how much the topics of the ongoing internal strategy development process fuTUre fit also touch on larger issues that affect the social mission of universities and are closely linked to the development of society and technology as a whole. As an example of change processes, Rector Schneider and former Rector Seidler pointed out how the educational requirements of students have changed over the last few decades and how TU Wien is therefore required to provide much more support for prospective and current students than was previously the case. This ranges from educational programmes for schools, such as TUforMath, opens an external URL in a new window or the Informatics eduLAB, opens an external URL in a new window, to services for our students, such as those set up by Student Support.

The challenge of complexity, unity of research and teaching

The basic requirements for universities have not changed, but the complexity has increased, the discussion revealed. This represents one of the greatest challenges for TU Wien as well as for all universities and society as a whole. Integrating social innovations (keyword: ‘digital humanism’) and social education are just as much a new task as supporting spin-offs, for example. The panellists agreed that interdisciplinary, international and diverse teams could best respond to this.

There was also agreement that research and teaching must be seen even more as a unit - a question that also generated a great deal of interest from the audience on site and in the livestream. Research is an integral part of teaching and vice versa, emphasised Rector Schneider.

On the one hand, the round table discussion led by Barbara Stöckl succeeded this afternoon in naming and differentiating the complex challenges facing universities, and TU Wien in particular, as well as highlighting the political and social tensions in which it finds itself. fuTUre fit as a process is intended to offer participation and orientation and, at the end, provide a compact strategy paper from which concrete measures can be derived and implemented.

Next stop „fuTUre fit Convention" in November: Join us!

Over the past few weeks, around 150 colleagues, staff and students have been working intensively in the fuTUre fit working groups on one of the ten key topics of the strategy development process. Their results will be presented at the fuTUre fit Convention and discussed with an international sounding board and the university public:

fuTUre fit Convention
Time: 18 to 20 November 2024
Place: Campus Karlsplatz
Programme and registration for TUW-members on the fuTUre fit-Website

The fuTure fit Convention is striving for certification in accordance with the criteria of the Österreichischen Umweltzeichens für Green Meetings und Events, opens in new window.