University of Klagenfurt
The University of Klagenfurt is a federal Austrian research university and the largest research and higher education institution in the state of Carinthia. It has its campus in Klagenfurt.
Originally founded in 1970 and relaunched in 1993, the university today holds faculties of humanities, management & economics, technical sciences, and interdisciplinary studies. It is listed in the ARWU, THE, and QS global rankings and holds rank 52 worldwide in THE's Young University Rankings 2020.
The university has defined two research priority areas, Networked and Autonomous Systems and Social Ecology, with the latter spawning three ERC Grants. It has launched a new initiative, Humans in the Digital Age, in 2019, hosting an ERC Grant on cybersecurity.
It also holds a number of central facilities such as the Robert Musil Institute, the Karl Popper Kolleg, the University Cultural Centre, the build! Gründerzentrum, the University Sports Centre, and the Klagenfurt University Library.
Oliver Vitouch, a cognitive psychologist and former faculty member of the University of Vienna and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, is the university's Vice-Chancellor. Larissa Krainer chairs the Academic Senate, Werner Wutscher is chairman of the University Council.
The University of Klagenfurt is situated 30 km from the Slovenian and 60 km from the Italian border and supports bi- and multilingualism, especially in the context of the Slovenian minority in Carinthia. Together with the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and the University of Fribourg, it is among the three southernmost universities in the German-speaking world.
History
With the Protestant collegium sapientiae et pietatis founded in 1552, Klagenfurt hosted one of the oldest gymnasiums in Austria, directed by Hieronymus Megiser from 1593 to 1601, but had no ancient university tradition.In 1970, the Austrian parliament passed a federal law allowing the establishment of an Educational Science College in Klagenfurt. The first doctoral degree was conferred in 1972. In 1975, new laws on higher education came into force, with the name of the college being changed into Universität für Bildungswissenschaften.
In 1993, a fundamental relaunch took place: The institution's name was changed to Universität Klagenfurt, and a Faculty of Humanities and a Faculty of Economics, Business Administration, and Informatics were inaugurated. The Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies was inaugurated in 2004.
The university adopted the official cognomen Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt in 2004. It was extended with a fourth, technical sciences faculty in 2007, engaging in research operations in collaboration with the Lakeside Science & Technology Park. In 2012, the number of students passed the 10,000 mark.
In 2015, the university established commencement speeches at its graduation ceremonies. Among the speakers so far are Sabine Herlitschka, Josef Winkler, August-Wilhelm Scheer, and. Presidents of Austria Heinz Fischer and Alexander Van der Bellen are recurrent guests at doctoral graduations sub auspiciis Praesidentis.
Campus
With its suburban setting, the university campus is in walking distance of both the renaissance-dominated historic city centre of Klagenfurt and the east bay of the Wörthersee, a renowned Austrian summer resort. Also hiking, climbing and skiing possibilities in the Austrian Alps are nearby. Together with the adjacent Lakeside Science & Technology Park, a 60 acres start-up and spin-off park, the university campus forms the so-called Lakeside District.From 2016 to 2018, the university's central and north wing were fully refurbished with a budget of €26 million. As a result, the university was shortlisted for the Prix Versailles – Campuses 2019, together with buildings of the University of Chicago in Hongkong, Barnard College, Stanford University, SPA Vijayawada, and Skoltech, which won the competition.
Faculties and departments
Faculty of Humanities
The Faculty of Humanities currently encompasses 11 departments and a faculty centre. Their common ambition, beyond doing discipline-specific research, is to foster multilingualism and intercultural education, with particular emphasis on the Alps-Adriatic region.- Department of English and American Studies
- Department of Cultural Analysis
- Department of Educational Sciences and Research
- Department of German Studies
- Department of History
- Department of Media and Communications Science
- Department of Philosophy
- Department of Psychology
- Department of Romance Studies
- Department of Slavonic Studies
- Robert Musil Institute for Literary Studies
- Faculty Centre for Sign Language and Communication of the Hearing Impaired
Faculty of Management and Economics
- Department of Business Management
- Department of Economics
- Department of Financial Management
- Department of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship
- Department of Production, Energy, and Environmental Management
- Department of Public, Nonprofit, and Health Management
- Department of Sociology
- Department of Geography and Regional Studies
- Department of Law
Faculty of Technical Sciences
- Department of Applied Informatics
- Department of Informatics Education
- Department of Informatics Systems
- Department of Information Technology
- Department of Mathematics
- Department of Mathematics Education
- Department of Networked and Embedded Systems
- Department of Smart Systems Technologies
- Department of Statistics
Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies
The Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies develops, tests and evaluates innovative ideas in the academic fields of research, training and organization. The objective of the faculty is to tackle prevailing social problem areas by creating adequate research and learning processes.- Department of Instructional and School Development
- Department of Science and Technology Studies
- Department of Science Communication and Higher Education Research
University centres
- Centre for Women's and Gender Studies
- Digital Age Research Centre
- Karl Popper Kolleg
- M/O/T – School of Management, Organizational Development and Technology
- School of Education
- UNIKUM
Rankings
From the STEM fields, the University of Klagenfurt has technology, engineering, and mathematics in its spectrum, but not any classic sciences or life sciences, which is a handicap in the large global university rankings. Still, it is listed in the 511–520 group in the QS World University Rankings, which aim to rank the 1,000 best universities in the world, ahead of the University of Graz and the University of Salzburg.
The University of Klagenfurt also ranks in the Academic Ranking of World Universities since 2019, and in U-Multirank since 2017.
Honorary doctors
- Hans Albert
- Joseph Buttinger
- Helmut Engelbrecht
- Adolf Frisé
- Gerda Fröhlich
- Manfred Max Gehring
- Ernst von Glasersfeld
- Georg Gottlob
- Maja Haderlap
- Peter Handke
- Adolf Holl
- Johannes Huber
- Sigmund Kripp
- Rae Langton
- Maria Lassnig
- Claudio Magris
- Ewald Nowotny
- Paul Parin
- Wolfgang Petritsch
- Janko Pleterski
- Wolfgang Puschnig
- Klaus Tschira
- Peter Turrini
- Josef Winkler