Save the Date: The fifth edition of the University:Future Festival will take place from 13-15 May 2025!

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 University:Future Festival is a cooperation between Hochschulforum Digitalisierung, Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre and 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.

Recap of 2024

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!

What changed in 2024

Stronger presence 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.

Community

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.

programme

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 2024: “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.

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