Digital and social transformation at higher education institutions
The era of digitization is accompanied by a technological evolution that turns the existing economic, political, social, societal, and scientific order on its head. This means the digital transformation brings about changes that entail both structural challenges and new avenues for action and does not spare (public) universities; rather, they place them as knowledge disseminators and producers before the task of actively shaping those changes. It is imperative to fully harness the potentials within their respective areas of responsibility.
This encompasses not only the exploration of new research domains and the establishment of new study programs. Digital transformation encompasses much more – particularly the integration of digital technologies into teaching, the modernization of university administration, and the generation and accessibility of research data in the context of Open Science. Furthermore, digitization can be utilized for the social dimension, for example, to address the individual skills and needs of each student.
Supporting and sponsoring digital transformation
The call for proposals "Digital and Social Transformation in Higher Education," initiated by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science, and Research (BMBWF) in 2019, aims to support profile-building and structural-developing projects that enable a (inter-)national boost in development for the public university system while highlighting digital innovations and/or the social dimension as central concerns of the university. The BMBWF allocated a sum of 50 million euros for this purpose for the performance agreement period from 2019 to 2021.
On October 14, 2021, an initial meeting was held with all project leaders of the 34 ministry projects to support dialogue between the two levels, exchange the current status of individual initiatives, and strengthen networking. Synergies were created, and further ideas for potential collaboration were initiated. The digital university hub provides a framework for exchange and dialogue.
HERE you can find a summary of this first online meeting in the form of a project poster and a status update on the 34 ministry initiatives.* In the performance agreements concluded between the (public) universities and the BMBWF for the period from 2022 to 2024, a focus was placed on digitization, particularly on the further development of the areas of "New Teaching and Learning Concepts" and Open Science. The comprehensive institutional digitalization strategies developed by all 22 public universities for the period from 2019 to 2021 will therefore undergo corresponding updates. Furthermore, the implementation of the 34 profile-building, forward-thinking university cooperation projects will continue in the years 2022 to 2024.
*The project "Digitale Mikroskopie für Studierende der Human-, Zahn- und Molekularen Medizin" [Digital Microscopy for Human, Dental and Molecular Medicine Students]carried out at the University of Innsbruck was merged with the project "Digitale Mikroskopie in der Lehre der Medizin 2.0" [Digital Microscopy in Teaching Medicine 2.0]. The overall project management is performed by the Med Uni Graz.
