The University of Innsbruck can look back on a very successful year
Rector Tilmann Märk’s team can look back on a very successful year. Despite the restrictions caused by the pandemic and enormous challenges in teaching and research, there have never been so many publications, such high third-party funding and so many successful academic achievements at the University of Innsbruck. At a press conference on Wednesday, the team of rectors also presented new aspects of the spatial situation and important aspects for the coming years.
During the pandemic – despite constantly changing framework conditions – the University of Innsbruck managed to reliably maintain research and teaching activities and to provide excellent services in the essential areas. “The Intellectual Capital Report is convincing evidence of this threshold,” said Rector Tilmann Märk at the press conference. “It’s fair to say that the 2021 intellectual capital report is the most positive since we’ve been collecting data and facts in this way.”
In the academic year 2020/21, a total of 4,337 studies were successfully completed at the University of Innsbruck. A key factor for this is the growing number of studies that require active examinations (min. 16 ECTS): in the previous year this was 19,235, or 7% more than in the previous year. The courses that are particularly active in exams (at least 40 ECTS) have increased by 13% to 11,678. “The efforts to make the courses more attractive and easier to study are also bearing visible fruit,” said Rector Märk. “All in all, two-thirds of the studies are now conducted with active examinations.” The research performance in the second year of the pandemic is also impressive: both the number of publications and the acquisition of third-party funds are at record levels in 2021. A total of 4,615 scientific publications were published, including 1,500 articles in specialist journals that appear in the Web of Science. In 2020 there were 1,427, an increase of 5%.
The year 2021 was all about the performance agreement negotiations with the Ministry of Science and numerous construction projects. A budget increase of 9.5% was agreed for the University of Innsbruck, in the years 2022 to 2024 a total of 832 million euros in global budget funds are available. “As much as the current inflation trend and the rise in prices in key sectors pose problems for the universities, this degree ensures that the University of Innsbruck – built on the solid financial foundation of the past – can continue to pursue its path in a targeted manner,” Rector said Mark optimistic. “In order to drive this further development forward, last year we defined the topics of sustainability, digitization, internationalization, diversity and the student life cycle as cross-sectional topics that will have a decisive influence on our actions in the future and that very large risks will be necessary in order to expand the infrastructure accordingly.”
New studies, more internationality and flexibility
The focus in the past year was on making the offer for students as diverse and flexible as possible. A series of new courses was established: the new teaching subject “Ethics” for the bachelor’s courses in teaching, “Strategic Management and Innovation”, “Marketing and Branding”, “Software Engineering” for the master’s courses and “Entrepreneurship” for the extension courses. After the successful start of the “Window of Opportunity”, which offers students a large amount of freedom of up to 30 ECTS (or up to one semester), it has already been integrated into numerous study plans. Students in the relevant disciplines can choose a specialist extension from currently 25 elective packages, for example in the areas of “Digital Science”, “Sustainability” or “Corporate Communication”.
This freedom of design is a prerequisite for granting students the greatest possible flexibility in the context of the Aurora European University Alliance. “The University of Innsbruck is showing itself to be a very dynamic and exemplary partner. For our students, the Aurora network is already an excellent opportunity to gain experience abroad with and at our partner universities and to acquire additional skills,” emphasized Bernhard Fügenschuh, Vice Rector for teachers and students.
At the beginning of the next winter semester, the university will be taking a new approach to in-depth communication between students and teachers with a buddy/mentoring system in all faculties. “In addition to the usual and natural exchange within the framework of teaching and research, a system is being set up with this idea that will also intensify communication between lecturers and students outside of the courses,” explained Bernhard Fügenschuh. The close coordination between buddies (student tutors) and mentors (teachers) should enable a comprehensive and, above all, low-threshold range of activities in order to “focus even more on working together at and for our university”, said Vice Rector Fügenschuh.
Successful in the competition for research funds
A significant part of the research is monitored by so-called third-party funds. These are acquired nationally and internationally in competition with other institutions. The scientists at the University of Innsbruck were particularly successful with their project applications last year. In 2021, third-party funding increased by 13% to a total of 56 million euros. The university was successful in the new EU framework program Horizon Europe, which started last year: since the start of the program, the European Research Council (ERC) has already awarded six scientists with an ERC grant, including three prestigious Advanced Grants for physicists Hans Briegel and Francesca Ferlaino and the biochemist Kathrin Thedieck.
In a competitive process, the University of Innsbruck, together with numerous corporate partners, the Tyrolean Chamber of Commerce, tourism associations, the state of Tyrol and the city of Innsbruck, was able to acquire two new endowed professorships: the endowed professorship for active mobility: exercise in leisure time and everyday life and the endowed professorship for timber construction – architecture, Resource efficiency and manufacturing.
“For the future, we are using ourselves to achieve a successful result in the Centers of Excellence program of the Austrian Science Fund FWF,” explained Vice Rector for Research, Ulrike Tanzer. The excellence clusters form the first of three pillars of the excellent=austria funding offensive to further strengthen Austria as a top international research location. “Our three lead applications address important research questions from the fields of quantum physics, climate research and economics.” The university is involved in a further seven applications. The decision on funding will be made in spring 2023.
Employer university: family-friendly, varied and flexible
In the past year, the university was not only able to fill existing positions, but also to recruit additional staff, especially in the areas of digitization, safety and health and the promotion of young talent. “The overall growth in staff is 4.9% (full-time equivalent). The fact that we are competitive with other employers is also shown by the many awards we received in the past year. Especially our core topics of family friendliness and diversity are also seen as very good from the outside successfully discovered,” said Vice Rector Anna Buchheim.
For the 6th time in a row, the University of Innsbruck is listed as Austria’s top employer in the ranking of the business magazine trend. The botanical garden has once again received the “We are inclusive” seal of approval for hiring people with disabilities and the university’s “equalitA” seal of approval for exemplary internal promotion of women. Overall, it is once again the most family-friendly employer in Tyrol in the category of public institutions and has received the BGF seal of approval for company health management. “We are building on this success with the expansion of the family service and our childcare offering. The theology/SOWI site is the first, and others will follow,” said Buchheim.
The team led by Vice Rector Buchheim is also driving the university’s diversity strategy forward: events such as the “Diversity Week” in June are intended to raise awareness. “In order to remain attractive as an employer, we are also focusing on making work more flexible. We are currently evaluating the home office model introduced last year in order to establish it at the university in the summer,” says Anna Buchheim. The University of Innsbruck uses a holistic approach, trains executives with targeted offers for remote leadership and takes measures to further strengthen a transparent feedback culture.
Secure sustainable infrastructure
The infrastructure measures are all geared towards sustainability: Both larger construction projects, such as the new building at Innrain 52a, and less prominent, visible ones are planned and implemented in a resource-saving and sustainable manner. For this purpose, a greenhouse gas balance sheet was drawn up for the entire university. By switching to 100% eco-certified electricity, around 6000 tons of CO2 are saved per year.
“This year and last year alone, we renovated several lecture halls, renewed the library location on the technology campus and created new minor ones for the ÖH in the main building,” explains Wolfgang Streicher, Vice Rector for Infrastructure. In the building at Innrain 52a, which will be fully operational by the end of February 2023, the university will also take care of the catering itself. “The ‘Universität Innsbruck Gastronomiebetriebe GmbH’, which was specially founded for this purpose, is committed to the conscious use of resources and regionality in its range and selection.” The university will move into part of the previous Hotel Grauer Bär by September 2022, and the renovated Victor-Franz-Hess-Hütte on Hafelekar will be reopened this year. “The House of Physics, which is to be built in the Klima-Aktiv Gold Standard, is also on the right track, twelve designs have now been shortlisted,” says Wolfgang Streicher.
The university is also rethinking mobility: There are e-charging stations at several locations or they are being implemented, employees also benefit from a subsidy of 100 euros for public transport annual tickets at VVT, IVB and for the Austria-wide climate ticket. A new travel policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was also implemented in 2021. In order to be able to evaluate all these measures better, a sustainability monitoring system is currently being developed that will record all parameters, from travel management to energy consumption. “We are aware of our role in relation to the climate crisis and are doing everything we can to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2035,” emphasized the Vice Rector.
Numbers and facts:
• University of Innsbruck: At a glance 2022
https://www.uibk.ac.at/universitaet/profil/factsheets.html
Rückfragehinweis: Mag. Uwe Steger Büro für Öffentlichkeitsarbeit Universität Innsbruck Christoph-Probst-Platz, Innrain 52 6020 Innsbruck, Österreich Tel: +43 512 507 32001 E-Mail: [email protected] Web: www.uibk.ac.at/public-relations