Highlights teaching

New digitisation scholarship gives a head start

Due to the economic difficulties caused by the COVID 19 crisis, the TU Wien has launched a support line for affected students with the new digitisation bursary: Monthly fixed costs to obtain necessary hardware and software equipment and digital infrastructure at home are supported with 32 digitisation scholarships in the amount of EUR 2,250 each. The “Vorsprung Fonds”, a fundraising format established at TU Wien to support basic research, method and application development as well as scholarships, acquired the donations for the digitisation scholarships. In addition to numerous private individuals, the following institutional donors supported the campaign: Atos IT Solutions and Services GmbH, Energy Development GmbH, FiNUM.Private Finance AG, HOERBIGER Holding AG, LUKOIL International Holding GmbH, Swietelsky AG, Wiener Stadtwerke GmbH.

Article: New digitisation scholarship gives a head start

11 Promotiones sub auspiciis praesidentis

In June 2021, eleven graduates of TU Wien were honoured for their outstanding achievements in school and studies within the framework of the sub auspiciis doctorates. On 2 June, Dr. Michael Ludwig, representing Federal President Dr. Alexander Van der Bellen, presented the Ring of Honour of the Republic of Austria to six graduates and on 14 June to five graduates. DI Anita Gerstenmayer BSc, DI Christian Hartl-Nesic BSc, DI Judith Jagenteufel BSc, DI Martin Halla BSc, DI Thomas Hack BSc and Johannes Hillbrand BSc MSc (2 June) and DI Gerald Berger BSc, DI Martin Riedler BSc, DI Michael Wais BSc, DI Stefan Donsa BSc and Mag. Tomáš Peitl Bc (14 June) were awarded the title of “Doctor of Technical Sciences” in the Kuppelsaal of TU Wien.

Article: 11 Promotiones sub auspiciis praesidentis

Leadership and new management knowledge for technicians

The TU Wien Academy for Continuing Education (ACE) was able to launch five new MBA programmes in May 2021. For this purpose, a special three-day leadership training was offered in the Vienna Woods and in Puchberg am Schneeberg, led by leadership expert and Dean Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Güttel. The participants learned how they function in a team, where their strengths and weaknesses lie, how to influence the organisational context through self-leadership, team leadership and leadership, as well as the basics of situational leadership and strategic priority setting.

Article: Leadership and new management knowledge for technicians

“The Flying Bulls Online Lecture” with Prof. Michael Weigand

In cooperation with the Flying Bulls, an exclusive look behind the scenes of Hangar 8 was offered in an online lecture on 1 June. As in the lecture on “Machine Elements” held by Prof. Weigand, the example of the Bristol Sycamore helicopter, the only one still airworthy, was used to explain how its propulsion system is constructed and what role gearboxes play in this.

Article: “The Flying Bulls Online Lecture” with Prof. Michael Weigand

At distance: An overview of successful distance learning concepts at TU Wien.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the digitization of teaching has evolved rapidly at TU Wien of March 2020. It was a big challenge for teachers, students and the different departments. In order to implement the conversion to Distance Learning and the security measures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the project team “Distance Learning” was set up by the Rectorate on March 21, 2020 to define the processes and coordinate and communicate the implementation of the procedures. The team continues to be available at the e-mail address distancelearning@tuwien.ac.at for questions, requests and suggestions. Developments in digital teaching over the past 18 months have shown that much was and is possible when all departments and divisions work closely together to provide faculty with appropriate options for implementation. Despite the pressure and the often very short-term implementation of online solutions due to the pandemic, the desire was formulated on the part of teachers and students to continue to offer well-functioning concepts even after the end of the crisis and to integrate them into teaching and learning methods in the long term. To this end, the implementation by the Center for Strategic Teaching Development is being launched, in which proven distance learning solutions from the Corona situation are to be reprocessed and sustainably established under the keyword “eTUcation”. In the “roomTUlearn” project, the TU Wien opens up the centrally managed teaching rooms as learning spaces and as on-site examination locations for online examinations.

Article: At distance: An overview of successful distance learning concepts at TU Wien.

Ars Docendi for Peter Purgathofer and Team

The Ars Docendi, is awarded as a distinction for excellent teaching at Austria’s public universities, universities of applied sciences, private universities and teacher training colleges. The recognition award for “Methods of Distance Learning and their sustainable use” was given to Ao.Prof. Peter Purgathofer and the team of altogether six teachers for the course “Ways of Thinking in Computer Science”. Triggered by the Corona pandemic, it was completely redesigned. The goal was to use the specific strengths of online formats instead of simply replacing the lecture hall with distance learning.

Article: Ars Docendi for Peter Purgathofer and Team

TU Austria Summer School Doc+

From September 20 to 24, 2021, the Summer School Doc + of the TU Austria universities took place in Vienna for the fourth time. It started with a city tour through the 1st and 4th district with stops and encouraging stories about Johann Georg Lahner (inventor of the Frankfurter and Wiener sausages, respectively) and the physicist Lise Meitner, among others. The following day dealt with the topic of team building. A workshop in the Oberlaa spa park focused on effective, cooperative teamwork and what to look for in cooperation, both in theory and in practice. On the penultimate day of the event, the young scientists were able to ask all their questions about publishing and reviewing in a fireside chat with the experienced computer science professor Ulrich Schmid from the Faculty of Computer Science. At the end, the participants of the TU Austria Summer School received a certificate.

Article: TU Austria Summer School Doc+

Best Teaching Awards 2021

On October 7, the Best Teaching Awards were presented for the fifth time at a gala in the Kuppelsaal of the TU Wien. The awards and the prize money are not only a well-deserved distinction, but also make it possible to realize further ideas in teaching. A special highlight of the evening was a show completely à la TU Wien: “Chemistry on Tour”. Fire, ice, explosions and other breathtaking experiments surprised and entertained award winners and the audience. The event was moderated by Bernhard Weingartner. For each faculty, the best teachers as well as the best Distance Learning courses were awarded. The award winners were elected by all TUW members. The Best Teacher Award is given to particularly committed teachers at the TU Wien, whereby the overall teaching performance and not only a specific course of the teacher is decisive. The finalists for the Best Teacher Award 2021 were three persons per faculty. The Best Distance Learning Award was given to teachers for a particularly outstanding course taught by a team of teachers or individual teachers with a focus on distance learning. Fourteen courses were nominated. Six courses and their teaching teams were honored.

Article: Best Teaching Awards 2021

End-of-Semester and Kick-Off Event in the Mentoring Program

The end-of-semester event of the Mentoring Program was ceremoniously opened by Vice Rector Kurt Matyas in June 2021. The event included a review of the past semester as well as a preview of the winter semester. In the mentoring program, first-year students (mentees) were supported in their transition from school to university by being accompanied in small groups by a total of 20 mentors (students from higher semesters) from the respective field of study. They received support in starting their studies as well as in organizing and designing their study plans. The mentees are assigned a specific contact person as a mentor from the very beginning. Due to the great demand in the winter semester 2020/21 with more than 800 applications, the mentoring program was continued for the first time in the summer semester.

The mentoring program was already a great success in the winter semester 2019/20.

Also for the start of the mentoring program in the winter semester 2021/22, the approximately 400 mentees accepted into the program were welcomed by Vice Rector Kurt Matyas at a kick-off event in the computer science lecture hall. Due to the large number of participants and the specified Corona safety distances, the event was streamed to three additional lecture halls. After a short preview of the upcoming semester and some games to get to know each other, the mentors were introduced and the groups were divided.

Article: Mentoring Program

Psychosocial counselling: Panel discussion and offers

With the “Psychosocial Counselling for TU Students”, there is an offer of individual counselling by a team of psychologists and a group offer with workshops for students with psychological stress. On 11 November 2021, an online panel discussion entitled: “Fears, worries, stress and pressure – studying with psychological problems at TU Wien” took place, in which psychological problems among students were examined from different perspectives and support options for those affected were discussed. In 2021 alone, well over 300 students took advantage of the various offers.

Article: Psychosocial counselling

Article: Panel discussion and offers