Tracks 2025
The programme of the University:Future Festival 2025 consists of six thematic tracks:
The bigger picture
/imagine a university that is structurally prepared for current and future challenges and helps students manage and mitigate the polycrisis.
In The bigger picture we address the big issues of today and tomorrow and how universities can address them. It is about politics and society: How do long-term changes in the education system affect universities? What role do universities play in the time of the polycrisis? It’s about sustainability: How can digitalisation work sustainably – and how does good sustainability management work in practice? How can education for sustainable development be further developed? In times of rapidly emerging new degree programmes, the question of the sustainability of academic education also arises. It is about the future and transformation: How can foresight work? Which models of thought can help us to think about the future outside the beaten track?
The topics of the track include: Politics, dealing with uncertainty, crises, long-term changes, megatrends, demographic change, sustainability management, education for sustainable development, fundamental values of universities, futuring, transformation
AI & Technology
/imagine a higher education system that uses technology to the benefit of the learners without compromising social bonds, interaction and critical thinking
Technologies and the associated opportunities at universities are changing rapidly. Artificial intelligence in particular has become a crucial topic for universities, from the technical and media didactic to the organisational side. Other technological issues relating to cybersecurity, virtual reality, learning analytics, open educational resources, data governance and questions of digital sovereignty also have their place in this track. Every perspective is of interest, including organisational, practical and didactic as well as technical. AI & Technology also addresses interoperability in higher education, which is a basic prerequisite for enabling cross-institutional and cross-border academic collaboration. We invite you to try out and demonstrate advanced technologies and methods, to present visions, but also to critically scrutinise narratives of progress at the festival.
The topics of the track include: Teaching with AI, prompting, tools, AI competences, didactic practical examples, influence on subjects, virtual reality, extended reality, cybersecurity, learning analytics, open educational resources, data governance, digital sovereignty and, more generally, technical developments in education and beyond
Future Skills
/imagine young people graduating with all the skills they need to thrive as individuals, engaged citizens and active contributors to society
In the Future Skills track, we discuss the skills that will become increasingly important on the labour market and in society in the near future. What exactly are these skills and how can they be identified and acquired? How does the personal development of individuals relate to future skills and how can it be ensured that they are not forgotten? Questions on the content, form and practical implementation of future skills are just as welcome as contributions that critically develop the concept of future skills or fundamentally question it. In times of a shortage of skilled labour, the topic of upskilling is also particularly relevant. What are examples of successful collaborations between universities and companies?
The topics of the track include: Future Skills, Data Literacy, Digital Literacy, Soft Skills, Media Competence, and Personal Development, Upskilling, Continuing Education
Innovative Learning
/imagine universities that use modern and diverse learning methods, foster problem-solving skills and encourage students to work in teams
The track on learning design, didactics and everything that goes with it: How does good, practice-orientated teaching succeed? In the Innovative Learning track, we examine evidence-based successful examples, creative methods and collaborative concepts. In view of the merging of physical and digital presence and changing demands on teaching, both physical and digital learning spaces need to be rethought. Successful hybrid concepts and third spaces are also part of the track. A particular focus in this track is on broad impact: how can the many outstanding examples of good teaching be disseminated and anchored in curricula? We therefore particularly invite projects to submit sessions that are working on scaling up good teaching.
The topics of the track include, among others: Innovative teaching concepts, learning design, student-centredness, learning success empiricism, teacher training, curriculum development, participatory event formats, gamification in teaching, hybrid teaching and learning architectures.
People
/imagine higher education institutions where everybody is seen and can thrive according to their abilities
People are at the centre of the People track. We deal with questions of participation: How can all levels – including administration, academic staff and students – be involved in decision-making? How can students participate in teaching? What formats are needed to make the needs of students visible? In light of the European Accessibility Act, which will come into force in 2025, the question of removing (technical) barriers is particularly urgent. What barriers are there to digitalised educational offerings? How can the accessibility of academic education be further simplified? The mental health of students and university staff as well as strategies and structures for coping with and preventing emotional problems are also examined in this track. Which target groups are addressed by existing educational programmes – and who are they not (yet) reaching? How can we make the university a fair place for everyone, regardless of (social) background, skin colour or gender?
The topics of the track include, among others: Participation, inclusion, students as partners, diversity, accessibility, opening up the university, student-centredness, participation, digital culture and mental health, mental health and wellbeing, accessibility
Structures & Strategies
/imagine universities that are structurally fit to deal with today’s challenges
In the digital transformation and in an international environment, universities have to adapt their processes and structures. In the Structures & Strategies track, we therefore talk about the university as an organisation, about administration, strategy and leadership. What can successful organisational development at universities look like? The topics include change management, organisational culture and the university as a good place to work in times of a shortage of skilled workers. We will discuss processes, framework conditions, decision-making structures and funding issues. Quality management in dynamic change processes is also an important point.
However, the focus is also on networks, collaboration and knowledge transfer – both into society and to other universities. On a large scale, national and international alliances such as the ‘European Universities’ and other forms of cross-university cooperation offer the potential to find answers to common questions. On a smaller scale, it is networks within universities, in local communities, with companies or with neighbouring universities that make important contributions to university development. By harmonising administrative processes and technologies, interoperable structures strengthen the flexibility and international networking of universities. Accordingly, the institutional side of interoperability is another topic of this track.
The topics of the track include: Administration, change management, organisational development, process management, democratic university structures, university strategy, new work, the university as an employer, internationalisation, quality management, interoperability, university networks and knowledge transfer, European alliances, alumni relationsn
