TU Wien Academy for Continuing Education
Due to the growing challenges for the economy and society, the TU Wien is experiencing an increasing demand for individualised continuing education. For this reason, it has intensified its commitment in recent months by offering needs-oriented, future-oriented and sustainable courses. Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Güttel, the team of the TU Wien Academy for Continuing Education (ACE), formerly the Continuing Education Center, has developed innovative continuing education concepts that combine science, technology and business in various thematic areas.
Connecting Science, Technology & Business
Global challenges shape everyday life in business and society. Not only the pandemic has changed our work, but also technological change, digitalisation and the climate crisis require companies and their employees to adapt to new situations. Above all, specialists and managers face enormous challenges in actively shaping the necessary change processes and implementing them profitably in their organisation. In order to remain competitive, they must focus on the right trends, introduce new business models and competently guide their employees through transformation processes. Therefore, ACE – in accordance with TU Wien’s Third Mission – will continue to promote the exchange of knowledge between TU Wien with business and society and adapt to global changes in an evolutionary manner.
New fields of competence for a successful start out of the crisis
After the TU Wien Academy for Continuing Education recorded an increasing number of students despite the Corona pandemic, the management team is optimistic about the future. For more than 30 years, the postgraduate institute for continuing education has been meeting the demand for high-quality qualifications for managers and experts. The foundation stone was laid with real estate courses, which have enjoyed great popularity for 30 years and since 2000 have been continuously supplemented by further programmes in the areas of engineering and management. The strategic further development now complements the thematic portfolio with focal points on technology, leadership and sustainability.
The TUW Academy for Continuing Education therefore conveys the latest and evidence-based findings from research for practice. Managers are thus provided with a foundation to be more confident in making important decisions on the one hand and to be able to demonstrate new scope for action in a technology-driven world on the other. Experts are offered specialisations in various fields in order to keep up to date with the latest technological developments. Therefore, the continuing education activities were strategically bundled into four new clusters in 2021, which will shape the content of postgraduate continuing education at the TUW in the future and also play a decisive role in public perception:
- Real Estate & Construction
- Management & Leadership
- Sustainability & Energy
- Technology & Engineering
The offer currently covers 13 master’s programmes, three university courses and various compact programmes that take up trends such as digitalisation, new work or sustainability and are geared to the needs of the participants.
Students benefit in particular from the fact that they can build up a high-quality network with industry representatives and fellow students during their further education, from which they will profit throughout their entire career. Renowned lecturers from science and practice distinguish the existing continuing education programmes. Years of expertise and the resulting know-how make it possible to establish connections that go far beyond the knowledge learned in the basic studies. Guests from business and society work on real case studies or conduct reality checks in expert talks. Needs-oriented infrastructure, a high level of service in the organisation and also the compatibility of studies, career and family are the cornerstones on which ACE is built.
More technical expertise through customisable programmes
A particularly urgent issue that Wolfgang Güttel’s team is addressing is the teaching of leadership skills in the management field: Experience shows that technical and scientific experts often become managers in the course of their careers. However, they often lack the management and leadership know-how to successfully navigate their fields through global challenges in international competition. As Dean of one of Austria’s most renowned providers of continuing education, Güttel sees it as his responsibility to counter this development with special formats in the area of management and leadership, which adapt individually to the needs of the market and participants through their modern, modular structure: Whether further education in the form of a complete MBA, participation in individual modules in the field of management and leadership or a short knowledge update on a current specialist topic – the TU Wien Academy for Continuing Education offers participants an individualised offer so that they can achieve their personal goals.
In order to ensure constant adaptation to participants’ needs, the TU Wien Academy for Continuing Education has recently launched special MBA programmes in the field of management. In addition to the new programmes on the current topics of Digital Transformation & Change Management, Strategic Management & Technology or Innovation, Digitalization & Entrepreneurship, the proven General Management MBA was also revised in cooperation with Danube University Krems to meet the needs and further developed as a compact, unique one-year MBA programme with a high degree of individualisation options.
The new technology-oriented Tech MBA programmes in the areas of Robotics & Artificial Intelligence, Operations Management, Mobility Transformation, Automotive Industry or Modern Workplace & Facility Management are primarily intended to strengthen the professional and managerial staff of medium-sized companies, often hidden champions, who need technical know-how in addition to management and leadership expertise in global competition. Therefore, the programmes consist of module components on technology, management and leadership. Practical insights into the relevant fields of technology development in companies and management & leadership complement the programmes.
Expansion of international cooperation
International cooperation with renowned research institutions continues to be an integral part of postgraduate education at the TU Wien. Existing partnerships, such as with Danube University Krems or Graz University of Technology, have recently been supplemented by cooperations with renowned institutions in California, New York, Sweden or Germany.
