The Council of Ministers decided on Friday by circular resolution that the YOUR A public university with a new organizational structure is to become, for which an “own Upper Austrian University Law will be developed”, it said in a broadcast by Governor Thomas Stelzer and Minister Heinz Faßmann (both ÖVP) on Sunday.
The start of the new YOUR is planned for the winter semester 2023/24. The aim is an international university – English is also the working language – with multidisciplinary studies and new types of teaching. With the gradual final expansion by 2030, 5,000 students should be able to take bachelor, master and doctoral courses either as regular courses or as advanced training courses. There will then also be around 150 working groups, which will be led by experts from various disciplines and professional groups. The first key points were presented in the broadcast.
As far as the new organizational structure to be developed is concerned, it is a matter of creating flexible units for teaching and research “for appropriate curricular and research strategy developments”. It was promised that the new study law would be based on the requirements and needs of the students.
Twelve and a half months after the first announcement of a new one YOUR in Upper Austria, Fassmann was “proud that we managed to get a clear, common picture” of it in this short time. “The joint decision is a milestone in the development of the new YOURbecause it makes it clear that a completely new type of university is to emerge that has not existed in Austria so far, “he emphasized.
“The digital change brings new challenges with it, the tasks are not getting any easier. With the university, which is unique in Austria, we want to actively shape the technological future and the digital transformation so that our country remains on the road to success,” emphasized Stelzer a week before the Upper Austrian elections .
Apparently no decision has yet been made about the location. In addition to Linz, Wels, Steyr and Leonding, among others, have shown interest. The Linz university director Meinhard Lukas has already emphasized several times that Linz has “all the prerequisites” to become “an international center of the digital renaissance”, not least because of the Ars Electronica Center. The new YOUR could be the “launcher” for it. With the expansion of the Johannes Kepler University (JKU) campus, Lukas would have found a possible place. When the YOUR The existing teaching and administrative infrastructure can be used jointly with the JKU. The formula “Two universities, one campus, one administration”, he gave as food for thought a year ago.
