The 2.5 years of the rural university project LandUni Drosendorf, opens an external URL in a new window (Lower Austria) are coming to an end. Over the past few years, we have learnt a lot about and with rural areas, gained new experiences and got to know the region. In order to record these aspects and learnings, the last few months have been spent working on the LandUni book ‘Vom Hörsaal zum Dorfplatz’ (From the lecture hall to the village square) together with expert contributions, which was published at the beginning of November. The official book presentation and a review of the last few years was organised and hosted by students in a two-day event.

On the first evening, in addition to the book presentation, the role of universities in regional development was discussed, in particular their contribution as drivers of innovation and sources of new impetus. The added value that collaborations offer students and how they can benefit from this cooperation was also highlighted. There was a keynote speech by Martin Heintel and Yvonne Franz (University of Vienna).

On the second day, new ideas for rural areas, forging co-operations and impulses for future projects were discussed. The focus was on the promotion of innovation and the development of new co-operations in rural areas. 

We would like to thank you for the successful event and look forward to seeing what happens in the future.