Bologna Day 2020: Focus on Teaching Quality – Photo Gallery
The title of this year's event was: "Think Big: Institutional teaching strategies and their implementation at Austrian higher education institutions ". Initiatives to improve the quality of teaching are an important thematic focus in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Based on the Bologna Communiqué of 2018, the EHEA is increasingly discussing the need to strategically establish common ideas and goals in teaching at institutional level. Participants from Austria and abroad took part in the conference in a virtual way.
The OeAD’s managing director Jakob Calice opened the Bologna conference: "The Corona pandemic changes a lot in education as it coincides with the process of digitisation. We will see change at an incredible speed. In this process we as OeAD want to be a partner for higher education institutions, offering space for exchange, networking and discussion – beyond the Austrian borders."
The quality of teaching in higher education and a strategic approach to its further development is also highly relevant for the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF). On the part of the BMBWF the head of section Elmar Pichl spoke about the background and relevance of institutional teaching strategies. Pichl: "Institutional strategies for teaching are an instrument with which higher education institutions develop and improve their teaching in accordance with their framework conditions. This strengthens not only the individual institutions but the entire higher education sector. And it also contributes to an efficient use of public funds in higher education."
With two keynotes from other European countries the conference looked beyond the horizon: first to the TH Köln, the strategy of which Birgit Szczyrba, Head of the University Didactics Team at the Centre for Teaching Development, presented. The TH Köln deals with the topic in an intensive way; in 2017 it was awarded the Genius Loci Award for teaching excellence by the German Stifterverband. Thereafter, Manel Jimenéz Morales, Commissioner for education and communication projects at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, presented a particularly ambitious, comprehensive and innovative approach to the topic with the "EDvolution" project.
Those who are probably most directly and personally called upon in the implementation of high-quality teaching had their say in a special format: in three Pecha-Kucha presentations teams of lecturers shared insights on the necessary framework conditions for their work. They were nominated for the "Ars Docendi State Prize for Excellent Teaching" in 2019 or were awarded the prize. Moreover, a panel with representatives of the four types of higher education institutions discussed strategic approaches in Austria and their framework conditions on the example of their institutions.
The host of the event at the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, CEO Armin Mahr, says: "The promotion of high-quality and innovative teaching is deeply rooted in our university’s DNA. Our lecturers have repeatedly received awards for the conception and implementation of institutional teaching strategies. We are pleased that the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, as organiser of the Bologna Day 2020, was able to help create a platform for the exchange of knowledge and experience across higher education institution and national borders. We believe in the European Higher Education Area and in international cooperation."
Georg Pehm, managing director of the University of Applied Sciences Burgenland and co-organiser of the Bologna Day, adds: "The topic "Think Big: Institutional teaching strategies and their implementation at Austrian higher education institutions" could not be better chosen and discussed at a better time than now. In terms of content, the Bologna Day 2020 focuses on a very crucial issue for higher education institutions and deals with a highly important topic."
BolognaService Point in Austria
The OeAD supports the integration of the Bologna goals in the Austrian higher education landscape. Since 1999 commitments promoting the common European Higher Education Area (EHEA) have been negotiated at regular intervals in currently 48 countries. As part of the Bologna Process these countries are active in the European Bologna Follow-Up Group and its thematic working groups.