IT:U Mission
IT:U stands for excellence in education, research, and innovation, fostering passion for creating impact in the real world. We cherish dialogue with society to explore desirable pathways of co-evolution. For our fields of action this means:
- #students IT:U attracts international students from all disciplines and train them in computational and 21st century skills, along projects with a mission, and prepare them to digitally transform their disciplines, application areas, businesses, and societies. IT:U educates transformers.
- #scientists IT:U attracts leading international researchers driving digital transformation beyond their fields, creating interdisciplinary research collaborations centered around computation. IT:U drives convergence.
- #austria IT:U creates an inspiring, inclusive, and international environment which serves to enrich society and strengthen the economy. IT:U empowers ecosystems.
IT:U’s DNA
The research and education portfolio of IT:U features unique aspects within Austria’s university ecosystem, positioning it among a select group of emerging European universities focused on innovative project-based education and research-integrated learning. To uphold this distinctive role, we embed the following values into our practices of working, teaching, and scientific research:
#ThingsThatMatter
IT:U will conduct cutting edge interdisciplinary research addressing digital transformation challenges on the road to a sustainable future. The research goals defined by society and economy increasingly require scientific cooperation across disciplinary boundaries. We are convinced that the use of computational methods opens new research horizons for many disciplines. Researchers and students want to contribute to solutions for the 21st century challenges facing humanity. At IT:U, we will work on things that matter.
#EquityAndInclusion
By teaching digital technologies as tools for working on things that matter, and applying personalized learning models, we will attract a diverse student body – including more women – who would not typically study a technical program. IT:U will establish an inclusive education environment that, from the very beginning, fosters a tight-knit international community in which identities, cultures and languages can meet without prejudice and all forms of diversity are welcome and valued. At IT:U, we embrace diversity as strength.
#NextLearning
IT:U will conduct education within challenge-based projects, promoting project-based learning and using groundbreaking educational technology to scale up. The best way to learn new skills is to practically acquire them within projects which address challenges that engage and motivate us. While this type of project-based learning is widely considered optimal in educational sciences, it also places very high demands on the number and quality of educators and infrastructure. We will develop and apply advanced education technologies to overcome the implicit scaling challenge. At IT:U, we explore the next level of learning.
#TransformEverything
IT:U recognizes the demand for 21st century skills beyond technical ability implicit in the interdisciplinary nature of the transformations driven by digitalization and computational methods. Future transformers in science and industry must be adept in change management, cross-cultural communication, project organization and many other non-technical skills to roll out, scale up, integrate and ultimately, realize the value of solutions based on digital methods. Such skills are best acquired in a personalized, project-based learning experience. At IT:U, we offer tomorrow’s transformers a well-rounded education.
#TechnologyRocks
At its core, IT:U is a technical university where students and researchers employ a rich toolbox of digital and computational methods ranging from data science and artificial intelligence to robotics and augmented reality. We will offer a broad technical education to students from a variety of backgrounds, enabling them to transform their respective fields with technology. Our researchers will employ computation methods to explore new scientific frontiers. At IT:U, we explore how technologies can change the world – for real.
#NewModelUniversity
IT:U will apply a new model of university organization, including flat organization structures and agile management methods, and enhance those with a strong digital culture including “mobile first” and “data only once”. At IT:U, we react dynamically to changing environments and needs.
IT:U Vision
IT:U Transforms Futures by creating experimental spaces to shape the desirable co-evolution of humans and digital technology. To this end, IT:U aspires to become a place where science, design, engineering, and art integrate.