Tracks 2021

The programme of the University:Future Festival 2021 was divided into eight thematic tracks:

1. Campus – the track on Spaces, Governance and Participation.
2. Data – the track on digital sovereignty, standards, data protection and law
3. Inclusivity – the track on diversity and accessibility
4. Lead – the track on strategy and leadership
5. Learn – the track on teaching and learning
6. AI – the track on artificial intelligence
7. Skills – the track on competences and qualification
8. Vision – the track on vision and sustainability

Campus

The track on spaces, administration and participation

How will university spaces function in the future? And how can we positively shape social interaction? How can processes be improved – and who decides on all this and how? At Campus we talk about physical, digital and hybrid spaces, about modern administration and about how participation can succeed.

Teaching and learning spaces are changing: virtual and physical spaces are increasingly interpenetrating, new teaching and learning concepts require innovative physical space concepts. Enabling and shaping social interaction is on the agenda to a new extent. New forms of participation are becoming possible – and also demanded by more and more stakeholders. Behind all this are functioning administrative structures. The Campus track offers the space to present and discuss concepts for learning architectures and democratic participation in the digital age.

Data

The track on digital sovereignty, standards, data protection and law

How can we as individuals, institutions and as a society shape the digital transformation in a sovereign manner – and not become the object of “alternativeless” platforms and providers? This is the question we ask by the track Data.

The term digital sovereignty refers to many areas – including data sovereignty, technological sovereignty and governance structures. Have we already slipped into technological dependency in higher education and if so, how can we change this? How can we maintain data sovereignty and still use it effectively and efficiently? What software, services and standards do we have and need? We will try to answer these and other questions in the track Data.

Inclusivity

The track on diversity and accessibility

How do we create educational equity? We address this question by the Inclusivity track. It deals with all levels of diversity, accessibility and access to education.

The Inclusivity track addresses one of the defining debates of our time ans question traditional social roles and patterns. We have to discuss the question of equity anew – among other things in relation to gender, (perceived) ethnicity, social status, sexual identity, physical characteristics and many other things. Diversity must become normality in academic education – but how do we create this concretely? The digitalisation push forced by Covid-19 has improved some things in this area, but also revealed new problems. The Inclusivity track discusses these questions.

Lead

The track on strategy and leadership

Digital transformation requires targeted organisational development. In Lead we discuss change processes on a conceptual as well as practical level.

In order to prepare for a future shaped by digitality, universities need individual strategies and effective structures. Change processes must be lived, and the establishment and expansion of support and advisory institutions must be made possible. In addition to conceptual and empirical contributions, we are also looking forward to hearing from people who have initiated and accompanied change processes. To this end, we want to bring together actors from all levels of higher education.

Learn

The track on teaching and learning

How do we want to teach and learn in the future? What is the future role of teachers and how can peer learning work? Learn deals with new didactic designs, innovative learning scenarios and teaching practice.

Which innovative teaching concepts deserve a broad audience? What insights can teachers impart that have abandoned classical teaching/learning models? How can peer learning work in practice? In this track we address teachers, learners as well as staff of teaching support institutions. And of course everyone else involved in teaching and learning.

AI

The track on artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is increasingly changing our everyday lives and the professional world. In the AI track, we talk about the key role that universities play in this rapid process of change. The AI Track takes place in cooperation with the AI Campus.

What do students need to learn about AI to feel fit for the future? And what does this mean for the respective subject and teachers? How can we use AI as a tool to improve learning and teaching experiences?

We discuss, for example, whether future doctors should be able to programme in order to use AI-supported methods later on, or which ethical-social aspects computer scientists also have to deal with intensively. We also ask which AI applications are used or currently being developed at universities: Which hypes can be safely ignored – and where are the real innovations?

Skills

The track to competences and qualification

The skills that are important for a self-efficient life are changing. Teachers and students need qualifications. Skills is all about competence profiles, curricula and qualifications.

What are the competences for a world of work of which it is said that two thirds of the jobs of the future do not even exist today? What competences do students and lifelong learners need to be able to shape a society politically and civically in the context of digitalisation? In addition to specialised tech skills and basic digital skills such as data literacy, it is also classic skills and competences in dealing with digitality that are gaining in importance. How can we qualify teachers and students in these areas? Skills opens the space for discussion about competences, curricula and qualification.

Vision

The track for visions and sustainability

Anyone with visions should come to the University:Future Festival. Vision is aimed at people who look at the big picture. People who think about sustainability. Vision is the track for utopias and wild ideas.

The only thing that is certain is constant change. The world is changing, the job market is changing, the demands on universities, university teaching and teachers and students are changing. How do we reconcile sustainability and university teaching in the future? Does the higher education landscape have to change radically or is it future-proof? What challenges await higher education institutions and the actors around them?

We will ask, debate and answer all these and many more questions (as far as possible) in the Vision Track.