Designing sustainable internationalisation strategies and mastering global challenges will have a strong impact on the universities’ future. In INTERNATIONAL LECTURES, a new event series in Austria, experts will discuss challenges and opportunities presented by an increasingly international and intercultural setting at universities. University leaders will address how to internationalise research and teaching to a greater extent as well as how to include current social and economic issues in the curricula.

Having scientists and students who communicate, network and cooperate within an international network, one could say that universities are international per se. However, first-class internationalisation endeavours go beyond: a global perspective is of paramount importance when it comes to selecting research topics and designing the next course syllabus. Moreover, the cultural diversity of its own students, scientists and administrative personnel needs to be actively promoted in order to unleash its creative potential. On a practical level, these goals need to be supported by structures which allow for interdisciplinary research and diversity to thrive. The promotion of multilingualism, innovative teaching methods and curricula which include issues of global responsibility and global citizenship are examples that could help.

Setting and target audience

The INTERNATIONAL LECTURES are structured in a way that they will address both local and global questions regarding internationalisation. In each semester they will be held in a different Austrian province and hosted by a different university. Each lecture will last 35 minutes, followed by questions and answers: 10 minutes each, and a panel discussion of 30 minutes. Each panel discussion will include experts from science, students and society. Journalists will be asked to chair the panels as a symbol of the importance of internationalisation for society.

Target Audience of INTERNATIONAL LECTURES are scientists, lecturers and students, members of stakeholder institutions and relevant ministries, and interested public. 

The first host city for the INTERNATIONAL LECTURES is Vienna during the summer term 2014. The partner organisations are Universities Austria, OeAD and the University of Vienna (International Office), in cooperation with the Austrian National Students Union, the student union of the University of Vienna and the University of Vienna’s Center for Gender Equality and Diversity.

The list of past and future events can be found here. 

More information on INTERNATIONAL LECTURES.