Recap: University:Future Festival 2025
The fifth edition of the University:Future Festival took place from May 13 to 15, 2025 under the motto /imagine. For three days, the focus was on the (digital) future of academic education with exciting impulses, interactive sessions and innovative ideas.
How are universities dealing with artificial intelligence? And which digital skills will be crucial for studying and working in the future? Hardly any other format offers as much scope for these questions as the University:Future Festival: the central event for the (digital) future of higher education. With over 600 speakers and more than 330 program items, including lectures, discussions, workshops and practical training sessions in German and English, the festival once again offered a unique framework for exchange, inspiration and networking. For three days, the focus was on the digital transformation of academic education.
2025 marked a special milestone for the University:Future Festival: for the first time, the event was held across all locations in the entire DACH region, with Garz, Zurich, Brunswick, Nuremberg and the Mainstage in Berlin as the central venues. You can find impressions of the individual locations in our photo gallery.
As in previous years, the U:FF was once again held as a hybrid event with a focus on digital participation. The virtual space was used specifically to reach even more people and facilitate exchange across regional borders.
On-Demand Programm
Once again this year, the festival’s digital concept made it possible to experience personal program highlights live or afterwards, regardless of location.
Were you unable to attend in real time or would you like to watch individual content at your leisure? From now on, all U:FF 2025 content is available as on-demand videos in playlists on the YouTube channel of the Hochschulforum Digitalisierung or directly in the program overview on our website!
- Here you can find all videos from the University Future:Festival 2025.
- All videos in English: Playlist
- Playlists by track: The bigger picture, AI & Technology, Future Skills, Innovative Learning, People, Structures & Strategies.
- Playlists by stage: Shifting:Stage Nuremberg, AI:STage TU Graz, AI-Edu:Stage Zurich, Future-Tech:Stage TU Bruskwick, Landing:Stage Berlin, Garden:Stage Berlin.
Mit dem Aufruf des Videos erklörst du dich einverstanden, dass Deine Daten an YouTube übermittelt werden und dass Du die Datenschutzerklärung gelesen hast.
The University:Future Festival is a cooperation between Hochschulforum Digitalisierung, Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre and Stifterverband.
The 2025 motto: /imagine
The festival motto for 2025 is /imagine. It is an invitation to everyone to think fundamentally, creatively, critically and, above all, for themselves in these politically and socially difficult times.
The motto addresses all levels of university development: /imagine agile and sustainable university structures! /imagine innovative teaching at all universities! /imagine digitally sovereign and modernly equipped institutions! /imagine a smart and sustainable use of AI in university teaching.
With a known image AI, /imagine starts the command to create a new image. By referencing the command line and artificial intelligence, we also put current technical issues at the center of the festival.
What made the University:Future Festvial 20025 special
Size and overview: As the largest event of its kind in the DACH region, U:FF 2025 offered a unique overview of the future of tertiary education, making it THE place for inspiration in terms of content.
Community-based: Our community doesn’t just meet once a year for the festival – we work together in a spirit of trust throughout the year. The content and formats of U:FF are largely fed by the various communities of HFD and the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education. Members of the community inspire others and share information about the festival.
Innovative and colorful: U:FF always strives for innovation – in content and formats. In 2025, this included artistic interventions, new and diverse format ideas and a contemporary digital and analog event experience.
Rethinking spaces: The University:Future Festival takes place simultaneously in the digital space and at several locations in the DACH region. By going digital, we achieve a high level of accessibility and an extensive program. The presence stages enable networking and personal experience. In 2025, there were also locations in Graz and Zurich for the first time in addition to Berlin, Brunswick and Nuremberg.
