Tales of Tomorrow
University:Future
Festival
Under the motto “Tales of Tomorrow“ the fourth edition of the University:Future Festival took place from 5 to 7 June!
The University:Future Festival (U:FF) is the largest event on the (digital) future of academic education. Topics include AI, future skills, didactics and strategy processes.
The U:FF 2024 was hybrid: the entire content of the programme could be fully experienced online. At the same time, stages in Berlin, Bochum, Heilbronn, Leipzig and Nuremberg allowed for on-site encounters. The programme was largely based on submissions from our communities. It was rounded off by outstanding VIP speakers. The festival was be held bilingually in German and English.
Visitors enjoyed a varied and inspiring programme with over 300 contributions from more than 600 speakers!
The University:Future Festival 2024 was organised by the Hochschulforum Digitalisierung and the Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre. It was supported by the Stifterverband.
Who is the University:Future Festival for?
For anyone interested in higher education: university administrators, lecturers, students, didactics, civil society and politics. A good university education is a joint effort by its stakeholders. The University:Future Festival brings them all together.
During the festival, they can combine their perspectives, develop solutions and discover scope for action. To this end, the festival offers ideal conditions. It provides space for exchange, networking and inspiration. To help create good futures.
Confirmed keynote speakers in 2024: Sue Attewell, Jens Brandenburg, Georgi Dimitrov, Andrea Frank, Steve Fuller, Heike Ekea Gleibs, Maja Göpel, Silja Graupe, Armin Himmelrath, Nele Hirsch, Julia Kloiber, Norbert Lammer, Derk Loorbach, Volker Meyer-Guckel, Ulrich Müller, Hanna Nordlund, Rikke Toft Nørgård, Hanni-Mari Puuska, Walter Rosenthal, Julia Schneider, Philipp Schmidt, Bas Smit, Christian Swertz, Nell Watson and Katharina Zweig!
What changed in 2024
Stronger presence in 2024
We had a main stage in Berlin and four partner stages at other locations. This allowed for a cross-site capacity of up to 1,000 attendees simultaneously.
We involved the community more closely
The content-related focus was once again set with the input from partners and the community in autumn 2023. There was also a Call for Volunteers for both moderations and jury work.
Broad and flexible programme
2024, the festival broadened its view and looked at all places of academic learning. The programme became more flexible: we offered workshops and trainings on all days and tried out innovative formats.
The motto “Tales of Tomorrow”
Stories are powerful. They construct our reality. The future is not fixed; rather, we create it here and now through our narratives.
This is what we discussed at the University:Future Festival 2024. Under the motto we contemplated futures and developed visions that go beyond the immediate. We invited participants and our speakers to collaboratively discover and share new stories. We addressed current and future technological developments while also shedding light on the social and intellectual context in which they occur. Together, we sought solutions and pathways into the future.
The word “Tale” can be translated as both “Geschichte” (story) and “Märchen” (fairy tale). At U:FF, we challenged established future narratives. We did not dwell in a superficially used concept of innovation, but rather aimed to discuss which narratives are relevant to the future and which are truly just fairy tales.
News
Festival programme 2024
True to the motto, at U:FF 2024 we were particularly concerned with futures, visions and the narratives behind them.
In doing so, we remained committed to the wishes of our community: the focus of the program was on concrete ideas and concepts for the (digital) future of academic education. It was about teaching and learning, artificial intelligence and future skills, organizational development and spatial concepts and much more.
The formats were also varied: as always, there were lectures, lightning talks and discussions. We had also put together an extensive on-site and digital workshop and training program. Our vistors were also met with digital and analog installations and works of art that deal with our topics.
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