UNIVERSITÄT FÜR BODENKULTUR WIEN
(BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna)

EVALUATION
OF THE UNIVERSITY'S INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY

SELF-EVALUATION REPORT

Edited by Irene Mueller and Hartmut Gossow

Vienna, May 2001

INTRODUCTION:

This self-evaluation report is the result of a survey which was done at BOKU Vienna between late February and early April 2001. Approximately 40 BOKU staff members (Rector, Heads of Faculty Groups, Heads of Study Commissions, other members of senior management, full professors, associate and assistant professors, administrative staff and students) were asked to provide us with their feedback on a number of questions which had been formulated by Prof.John Davies at an earlier stage. These questions cover a broad range of topics and most of them are somewhat related to the strategic positioning of BOKU in the international context. The answers were highly diverse, and we decided to incorporate them in this Report without any "streamlining" or re-arranging. In fact, this Report has to be considered a working-paper rather than a well-trimmed documentation ready for publication.

It is the intention to enable the evaluation team to pick out original statements and check back with relevant BOKU staff members in order to reach a comprehensive understanding of what BOKU’s striving for inter-nationalisation has achieved so far.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A - GENERAL CONTEXT

The Austrian System of Higher Education
Post-secondary Education in Austria

In Austria, tertiary-level university education comprises 19 Universities (Universitäten) maintained by the state,
3 Schools of Philosophy and Theology (Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschulen) maintained by the Roman-Catholic Church, 72 polytechnic-programmes (Fachhochschul-Studiengänge) maintained by private institutions with subsidies from the state, and 4 private universities (Privatuniversitäten) run by private maintainers with national accreditation.

The non-university tertiary level comprises 50 teacher training colleges for teachers in compulsory schools
(Akademien für Lehrerbildung), 7 social workers colleges (Akademien für Sozialarbeit), 7 midwifery academies
(Hebammenakademien), 48 colleges for medical assistants and technicians (Medizinisch-Technische Akademien),
2 military academies (Militärische Akademien), 26 schools of psychotherapy (Psychotherapeutische Ausbildungseinrichtungen), 11 conservatories (Konservatorien), and 2 commercial schools (Wirtschaftsschulen).

The text below only considers university education.

Overall structure of university education in Austria

A master's level diploma degree (Diplomgrad) is awarded by Austrian universities after eight to twelve semesters, depending on the field of study. Its full denomination is "Magister ...", including a description of the field in which it was obtained, e.g. Magister philosophiae, or, in the fields of engineering, it is "Diplom-Ingenieur". However, in medicine, the first degree awarded is "Doctor medicinae universae" after twelve semesters.

The study programmes leading to a Diplomgrad can also be absolved via an undergraduate programme leading to a bachelor's degree (Bakkalaureatsgrad, denomination "Bakkalaureus ...") after six to eight semesters, followed by a graduate programme finishing with the master's degree (Magistergrad) after two to four semesters.

Holders of a master's level degree are entitled to enter a doctoral programme (Doktoratsstudium) at a university. The doctoral degree (Doktorgrad, denomination "Doktor ...") is awarded after four semesters.

Graduates of polytechnic-programmes (Fachhochschulen) are also awarded an academic degree after seven or eight semesters. The titles are "Diplom-Ingenieur (FH)" in the fields of engineering, or "Magister (FH)" in the other fields of study. The abbreviation FH distinguishes those degrees from university degrees. Graduates of polytechnic programmes are entitled to enter a doctoral programme at a university, but this lasts two semesters longer than for university graduates.

Beyond the degree programmes (ordentliche Studien) described above, there are non-degree studies (außerordentliche Studien) which can be university course programmes (Universitätslehrgang) or attendance at individual courses.

Master's level diploma programme (Diplomstudium)

Admission to a diploma programme is granted on the basis of an Austrian (e.g. Matura) or an equivalent foreign secondary school leaving certificate (Reifezeugnis), or an immatriculation certificate obtained by passing a university entrance examination (Studienberechtigungsprüfung).

The "Diplomgrad" studies are subdivided into two or three stages of study (Studienabschnitte). The duration of each part of the studies as well as the subjects to be taken and their extent are laid down in the curriculum (Studienplan). There are compulsory subjects (Pflichtfächer), compulsory electives of which a specified number have to be selected from a catalogue set out in the curriculum (gebundene Wahlfächer), and free electives (freie Wahlfächer) which may be selected from among a range of university-level courses. Each stage of study is concluded with a diploma examination (Diplomprüfung). The approval of the diploma thesis (Diplomarbeit) is a prerequisite for admission to the final diploma examination.

Bachelor programme (Bakkalaureatsstudium)

Admission to a diploma programme is granted on the basis of an Austrian (e.g. Matura) or an equivalent foreign secondary school leaving certificate (Reifezeugnis), or an immatriculation certificate obtained by passing a university entrance examination (Studienberechtigungsprüfung).

The subjects to be taken and their extent are laid down in the curriculum (Studienplan). At least two bachelor essays have to be written within the subjects of the programme. There are compulsory subjects (Pflichtfächer), compulsory electives of which a specified number have to be selected from a catalogue set out in the curriculum (gebundene Wahlfächer), and free electives (freie Wahlfächer) which may be selected from among a range of university-level courses. The bachelor programme is concluded with a bachelor examination (Bakkalaureatsprüfung).

Master's programme (Magisterstudium)

Admission to a master programme (Magisterstudium) is granted on the basis of a completed Austrian bachelor programme (Bakkalaureatsstudium) or equivalent programme at tertiary level. The subjects to be taken and their extent are laid down in the curriculum (Studienplan). The main focus is on a master's thesis (Magisterarbeit), and will include studies in related subjects. The programme is concluded with a master's examination (Magisterprüfung) . Approval of the master's thesis (Magisterarbeit) is a prerequisite for admission to the master's examination.

Doctoral programme (Doktoratsstudium)

Admission to a doctoral programme is granted on the basis of a completed Austrian Diplomstudium, an Austrian master's programme (Magisterstudium), a politechnic diploma programme, or an equivalent programme at tertiary level. The subjects to be taken and their extent are laid down in the curriculum (Studienplan), and vary depending on the entry qualification. The main area of concentration is the doctoral thesis (Dissertation), including studies in related subjects. The programme is concluded following approval of the doctoral thesis and with a doctoral examination (Rigorosum).

Polytechnic-programmes (Fachhochschul-Studiengänge)

Admission to a politechnic diploma programme is granted on the basis of an Austrian (e.g. Matura) or an equivalent foreign secondary school leaving certificate (Reifezeugnis), of an immatriculation certificate obtained by passing a university entrance examination (Studienberechtigungsprüfung), or of a relevant professional qualification. There is a selection procedure prior to admission. The subjects to be taken and their extent are laid down in the curriculum (Studienplan). There are compulsory subjects (Pflichtfächer) and electives (Wahlfächer). The polytechnic programmes are more application-oriented than university studies and include one or two semesters of guided practical training. The programme is concluded with a politechnic diploma examination (Diplomprüfung). The approval of the diploma thesis (Diplomarbeit) is a prerequisite for admission to the diploma examination.

Evaluation of performance and grading system

According to the examination modalities outlined in the curricula (Studienpläne), examinations can take the form of oral and written exams, or projects. Oral examinations are principally public exams.

[the Austrian and the ECTS grading systems are only partly equivalent!]

Fees

From the academic year starting in October 2001 onwards, Austrian universities will charge tuition fees. They will be ATS 5.000,- (EUR 365) for Austrian and EU students, and ATS 10.000,- (EUR 730) for international students from outside the European Union. There will be tuition waivers for international students studying at an Austrian university within an exchange programme,and for students from developing countries and from Eastern European institutions.

It is to be expected that the number of Austrian students will further decrease in this context, the number of international students will probably increase, therefore it will become even more important for BOKU to strengthen its international appeal.

Position of BOKU within the Austrian System of Higher Education

BOKU Vienna belongs to the rather small to medium-sized institutions in Austria. At present it has approximately 6.400 regular students, 840 of those are enrolled in a doctoral programme, 650 are international students. BOKU is the only Austrian university offering degree programmes in all areas of natural resource and land-use studies, combining scientific theory with the practical application of technology, economics and ecology. At present the five curricula (agriculture, forestry & wood technology, land and water management & engineering, food science & biotechnology, landscape architecture & planning) follow the traditional scheme of diploma programmes, with a minimum duration of studies of 10 semesters, 2 diploma examinations and a diploma thesis at the end of the regular study period.

Upon successful completion the degree of "Diplom-Ingenieur" is awarded. After a minimum of 2 additional years of further studying and research, including the writing of a doctoral dissertation, the degree of "Doktor der Bodenkultur" (Dr.nat.techn.) can be obtained.

At present, BOKU is in the process of redesigning its study programmes, allowing for the introduction of the three-stage system with a first degree after 3 years (Baccalaureus), a Master's degree after another 2 years and an ensuing doctoral programme of another 2 years.

As far as the introduction of the so far unknown Bachelor degree is concerned, there is quite a high amount of scepticism among academics at BOKU, because nobody is really certain what the job perspectives of a 3-year graduate in technical disciplines will be. Nevertheless, the process will continue and it is envisaged to have the new scheme in place within the next two years.

Governmental Policies towards internationalisation in higher education and the institution's response to it

Internationalisation of higher education became an issue for the Austrian Government and for the responsible Ministry of Science in particular only when Austria started the accession process to the European Community in the late 80s. While there had not been any initiatives at the ministerial level in this field before, it was suddenly felt that, with Austria’s EC-membership, there was a need for a stronger internationalisation of its higher education. Thus, international offices were installed at all Austrian universities in 1990 or 1991 and gradually this sector was also given more importance from the financial point of view. New budget lines for international activities were created within the national budget, a new division was set up within the Ministry of Science with the special mission to provide higher education institutions with support and guidance on their way towards stronger internationalisation.

After Austria’s EU accession in 1995 and especially since Austria’s EU Presidency in 1998 a steadily growing infrastructure (national agencies, counselling offices etc.) has developed, whereas the size of most Austrian university international offices has not increased in the same proportion. Several scholarship programmes which were within the Ministry’s responsibility before 1990 or had not existed at all, are administered by the universities‘ international offices nowadays. With the new university study law of 1999 the universities were given the possibility to replace their current diploma study programmes by Bachelor- Master programmes. By not allowing the creation of additional new programmes like in Germany – it is only possible to transform the existing curricula into new two-stage schemes, new curricula would require a full legislative process – the options for the development of international postgraduate programmes were strongly infringed. After severe protests from university representatives, the Ministry is currently trying to find a more flexible solution.

In recent months, the ministry has also been actively pushing towards an implementation of the Bologna Process, hoewever with an insufficient regulatory and budgetary framework.

As far as the financial aspects are concerned, the international division within the Ministry has been trying to maintain the level of funding for internationalisation of higher education, and in spite of severe overall budget cuts during the last few years, they have so far succeeded in avoiding any substantial cuts. Thus, the universities' global budgets comprise the same amounts of money for international activities as before the overall budget cutting policy started. It is then up to the universities to allocate the funds according to their internal priorities.

At BOKU we have tried to make internationalization an intrinsic feature. Especially the students are very aware of the fact that internationalization is a key asset of their academic education and training. BOKU has also made good use of the increased funds for inter-nationalisation. Its international office, running as a one-person unit for the first 1 ½ years, has meanwhile 5 full-time positions and the national funds allocated to BOKU’s internationalisation efforts amount to ATS 2,6 million. For a few years now, this amount has been part of the university’s global budget, i.e. the university decides itself how much money will be spent on internationalisation, but since BOKU's involvement in all international activities had been quite substantial during the earlier years, it had been granted a relatively high amount by the Ministry and this proportion has been maintained by BOKU responsibles.

There is close cooperation with the international division in the Ministry, and ZIB’s senior staff members are often involved in planning sessions on the future development of the major international programmes.

BOKU's tradition, general evolution, organisation, mission and strategic plans

BOKU sees itself as the Alma mater viridis or the "Green University of Life". Its foremost tasks are to secure the basics of life for future generations, to ensure a sustainable and environmentally compatible use of renewable natural resources through an alliance of nature and technology, and to conserve and maintain the beauty of the land (see Mission Statement Annex 1).

Organisation:

BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, has 39 research and teaching institutes, and 10 service centres. The University is organised into 5 first degree courses together with doctoral studies (there are no faculties).

The operative management of the University is the responsibility of the Rector, who is supported by three Vice-Rectors. Strategic management is the responsibility of the Universitätskollegium (University Council). The Dean of Studies co-ordinates the various degree courses, with the help of three Associate Deans.

The five study commissions design the courses themselves. A University Advisory Board also provides advice to University management.

see organigramm: Unversity of Agricultural Sciences, Vienna

see organigramm: Center for international Relations, Research & Continuing Education

Responsibilities of the various executive bodies

Rector

University’s chief representative; undertakes general co-ordination activities; head of administration; leads negotiations regarding job appointments; participates in selection procedures for candidates seeking appointments or postdoctoral professional awards (Habilitation); responsible for supply and allocation of resources.

Vice-Rectors

• Vice-Rector for Resources

Calculates long-term resource requirements; prepares implementation plans; prepares and supervises the annual University budget proposals; responsible for budgetary control, build-up of financial reserves, reallocation of finances and cost centre accounting; helps produce strategic development concepts for the University as a whole.

• Vice-Rector for Research

Responsible for the organisation and management of science and research, research funding, and the documentation and evaluation of research; advises on individual research projects; point of contact for other domestic and international research institutes; provides support for grant applications and information on grant availability; supervises the BOKUDOK –a research database covering projects, researchers and research performance.

• Vice-Rector for Continuing Education

Develops and manages international short courses and other opportunities for continuing education; provides organisational advice to university institutes regarding their continuing education activities; responsible for building up a multi-university international centre for continuing education within the Grüner Verbund (association of central European Universities with similar subject interests) and other international networks; conceives and co-ordinates staff development programmes; encourages co-operation between schools and the university; responsible for careers office.

Universitätskollegium (University Council)

Adopts the University Charter; prepares guidelines for the Rector and Dean of Studies; adopts the budget proposal; organises the election of the Rector; presents proposals to the University Assembly; selects and deselects the Dean of Studies; bestows honorary academic awards.

Dean of Studies

The Dean of Studies is primarily responsible for co-ordinating and maintaining the University’s teaching and examination activities. This includes allocating teaching contracts, analysing and publishing the results of course evaluations, organising examination boards for PhD vivas, 1^st degree thesis examinations and retakes, awarding and recognising academic degrees, and nostrification of foreign educational qualifications.

Associate Dean for International Study Programmes

Assists the Dean of Studies in various co-ordinating functions. Has a special portfolio for the development of new international programmes and for the implementation of ECTS.

History

Key statistical information on

B - INTERNATIONAL POSITIONING OF INSTITUTION

1. History of internationalisation efforts in BOKU

The University of Agricultural Sciences, or BOKU Vienna, as it is called by insiders, has been relatively strongly involved in international activities over the last ten years. While the 70s and 80s were mainly dedicated to a consolidation of the traditional study programmes (agriculture, forestry, land & water management and engineering, fermentation technology - was transformed into food science and biotechnology in 1975) and to a first confrontation with new, "green", environmentally-oriented issues - a new curriculum called "landscape ecology" was introduced on a trial basis in 1981, the international component did not play any relevant role then. BOKU stood for solid, "down-to-the earth"-focused education which produced reliable agricultural engineers, foresters, or civil engineers.

As from the early 90s onwards, most Austrian institutions became more strongly aware of the need for international contacts, for involvement in international programmes. The planned accession to the European Community played a decisive role in this development. In 1991, international offices were established at most Austrian universities, introducing for the first time full-time professional staff for the management of academic international relations.

BOKU's international office, the ZIB (Zentrum für internationale Beziehungen, Centre for International Relations) was founded in March 1991, and it was a rather tough job to introduce the concept of internationalisation at an institution that had never considered it a first priority in the past. All international activities that had taken place earlier were individual affairs of BOKU faculty members or students, and internationalisation as an institutionalised approach was just not considered necessary for BOKU.

With the growing awareness and the better accessability of EU programmes, internationalisation became an issue that required a more organised and strategic approach. When BOKU students got the opportunity to participate in the ERASMUS programme as from 1992 onwards, all negative expectations ("BOKU students are not mobile, what could they learn at a foreign university that might be useful for their job in Austria?") proved wrong, and it turned out that there was a high interest in international exchanges. Over the years, the numbers of exchange students have been steadily growing and the administration of the ERASMUS/ SOCRATES programme became a central function of the ZIB. Gradually, also BOKU staff members started to realise that the central management of international relations had its positive effects, and meanwhile the international office has become the central hub for easier access to nearly all sorts of international programmes.

With the increasing number of international involvements of BOKU staff and students, it became mandatory to find a more structured and better organised approach for international activities: what had been initiated in many cases on a trial and error basis and had led to some wildly growing outcomes needed an overall structure with a clear pattern of targets and objectives. Therefore, at the end of 1997 a working-group was set up, and it was given the task to develop an internationalisation strategy for BOKU. After almost two years of hard conceptual work the strategy was finalised and approved by the University Council in June 1999 (see Annex 4).

In October 1999 the implementation phase started with the creation of a working-group which should identify the main priorities and develop activity patterns for an efficient implementation. Three main action lines could be identified, one focusing on an analysis of student exchange programmes (mainly outside SOCRATES, joint-study programmes with overseas institutions), another one on the introduction of lectures taught in English, and a third one on the internationalisation of research. Sub-groups worked on the different issues during several sessions and came up with interesting conclusions. At the last session of the general working group it was decided to set up a special advisory committee for international affairs which should focus both on educational and on research matters and which should prepare decisions on international matters for the Rector. Unfortunately, this committee has not been constituted yet and no further action has been taken so far.

2. Scope of international activities - geographic foci, range of institutional domains involved etc.

BOKU is a rather small-sized, specialised institution which has no direct competition in the country. Due to its complex spectrum of disciplines, BOKU has also very few exact counterparts internationally. Apart from SLU, KVL, Wageningen and some Eastern European institutions, there are hardly any universities of that type. Therefore, cooperation mainly focuses on the faculty or department level.

As to the geographic orientation, BOKU is involved in cooperation activities with EU institutions, with institutions in CEE countries, with institutions in North America, Australia and N.Z., and with partners in developing countries. The connections usually stem from individual contacts of scientists, or were initiated by the international office. As to the ranking of these connections, the opinions within BOKU are rather diverse: while a certain group, including the students' representatives, strongly advocates and supports the contacts with Eastern Europe - due to BOKU's and Vienna's position as a gateway to the East -, other staff members do not consider the geographic orientation a primary element (this corresponds largely with the scientific orientation of the respective institutes). Scientific collaboration should focus on any part of the world where adequate partners can be found. Also the overall positioning of BOKU depends strongly on the quality of the actors involved. While some institutes and scientists have an excellent reputation and are well-known all over the world, others are just non-existent in the international scientific arena.

In spite of the creation of an internationalisation strategy, BOKU has still not arrived at a point where clear priorities concerning geographic areas can be set, on the contrary they are chosen rather haphazardly.

BOKU's presence in international networks and programmes depends largely on personal involvement of scientists or on initiatives launched by the international office; generally speaking, the participation in international programmes outside the EU is rather weak. During the last years BOKU scientists have made considerable efforts to become more strongly involved in EU research projects and the results look very promising (see detailed number of projects under D.5).

BOKU's scientific priorities within Europe can be described as focusing largely on the "development of the rural space". Further scientific-strategic priorities are

• renewable resources and their use
• food chain
• biotechnology
• wood technology
• water

Relation between international policy and overall mission of University:

BOKU's mission statement stipulates the "interdisciplinary and international cooperation of scientists" in order to "increase the knowledge and information of the ecologically and econo-mically sustainable use of natural resources and to help maintain the harmony of land developed and cultivated by man".

BOKU's international policy is still not very clearly discernible; so far, the Internationalisation Strategy contains only some quantitatively operational targets; there is also still a lack of broad interest in international matters; most initiatives are institute-based and there is no coherence between many of these activities. Since there is no central body which sets up a concrete plan, it is left to the institutes and to the ZIB to do as much internationalisation as they feel appropriate; of course, ZIB's main goal is to increase the number of international activities, but unfortunately this is also done without an overall strategic goal and without having agreed on priorities within BOKU. Especially with respect to development programmes, a clear positioning of BOKU would be extremely important in order to enable active and concerted participation in the programmes. As some staff members put it, there have been numerous efforts towards internationalisation during the last years but there is no clear internationalisation policy, internationalism is not yet part of BOKU's identity. BOKU is on the right track, but so far only half-way.

The appraisal of BOKU’s position as an international player differs considerably in the opinion of the staff members who participated in the survey. While some claim that BOKU struggles to find an adequate position in higher education and does not play a very important role as an international player, they even qualify its role in tertiary education internationally as very low (mainly due to lack of public funding), others consider its position as upper average.

There is general agreement on the fact that some areas have an excellent reputation, such as some institutes within Food Science & Biotechnology or Water Management, other areas seem to be non-existent on the international stage, this is largely dependent on individual persons and scientific fields.

For international students especially from developing countries BOKU seems to become a more and more interesting address, however, it is still not first choice, due to a lack of courses offered in English; BOKU could only position itself as a strong international player if a clear programme in English was established, focusing on specific strengths of teaching and research. Although first promising steps had been taken this is still not enough.

While BOKU's involvement in EU networks, its collaboration in international educational programmes and the transfer of experience in curriculum reform activities to CEEC is seen as highly positive, the lack of international study programmes and a too small number of contacts with international organisations is seen as a deficiency. Also a better collaboration within Austria could help to improve BOKU’s possibilities in joint teaching or research programmes.

If BOKU wants to become more attractive internationally, it has to offer a modern, future-oriented teaching-programme with an efficient organisation. Only a good product can be marketed sufficiently over a certain period of time. This applies particularly to teaching and needs a research-based background.

Due to decreasing Austrian research funds, the situation of research is rather deplorable at most Austrian universities, also at BOKU (with certain exceptions e.g. Institute of Applied Microbiology, Centre for Ultra-Structural Research); research stays at BOKU are not considered a top asset on an international scientist‘s CV. There is agreement on the fact that only internationally competitive research will turn an institution into a strong international player and that all input into the quality of research will have effects on an institution's international position. BOKU researchers should participate more strongly in concerted actions or selected fields of research (e.g. sustainable rural development, mountain ecosystems); a stronger cooperation within the University, especially via increased communication would also be helpful

Some staff members solicit that BOKU shall offer a solid technical basic knowledge and focus at the same time on sustainable development issues; thus educational programmes will be considered something special and fit for international competition; more concentration on special topics (sustainable land-use, environmental education, land-management of alpine regions) should enable BOKU to play a leading role.

With a number of highly attractive topics such as organic farming, water management, sustainable land-use, BOKU could play a very interesting role for international students and staff, especially with the geographic positioning as a gateway to Eastern Europe, a stronger orientation towards Eastern Europe is recommended

C - THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT

External challenges

• Competition with institutions operating in similar fields, compounded by language problems (lack of international students because they have no or insufficient knowledge of German).
• There is a need to adapt to changing conditions. Many traditional professional jobs are changing or disappearing. University teaching has to face the problem of preparing students for an uncertain future in the various disciplines taught. Universities of the BOKU type are particularly challenged;
• With the enlargement of the EU, the level of competition will increase: without systematic internationalisation BOKU might loose track;
• The introduction of tuition fees may risk BOKU losing attractiveness for international students;
• No two-tier (bachelor's and master's) system in place, poor compatibility with the Anglo-American system;
• Harmonisation of curricula at least Europe-wide would lead to increased student mobility. If BOKU does not participate in this movement, it will be less attractive for exchange students;
• There are problems due to the lack of clear strategic positioning on the international tertiary education market;
• Globalisation of higher education system, accompanied by massive intrusion of commercially-oriented American universities, is also a threat. If the government withdraws from the tertiary education sector, the commercial aspects will grow;
• Participation in EU framework programmes depends on scientific excellence and existing infrastructures. BOKU, as a small institution oriented towards applied sciences, may have bigger problems with this type of networking. As a result of a lack of public funding, Austria's attraction as a place for research has been seriously impaired;
• There is a growing awareness of healthy food and well-being in the population. BOKU should involve the nutritional sciences more strongly in its curricula and research, stressing consensus and compatibility between technology and life, and without ending up burdened with "green dogma";
• Confrontation between "hard" and "soft" agriculture. BOKU is focusing more and more on the latter. Its international role and credibility will in good measure depend on the outcomes of this confrontation;
• Current problems with agricultural production, introduction of alternative agricultural products and changes in markets, application of gene-technology in the food industry — all need to be addressed. BOKU should strengthen the concept of sustainability in all its disciplines

Threats

• Owing to the extremely low research funding in Austria, combined with new employment regulations for junior academic staff that make an academic career much less attractive, BOKU risks encountering a decline in its scientific potential. This may lead to a positioning which is closer to a vocational school than to a university;
• Fachhochschulen (polytechnics) offer well-structured, compact study programmes of four years' duration; they have restricted entry (numerus clausus) and the job perspectives for their graduates are excellent. Currently there are such polytechnic programmes in the fields of wood technology and civil engineering, though so far none in agriculture. Serious competition is to be expected from this new sector in higher education in Austria;
• There is no overall concept for university politics in Austria, with much discussion about the future of higher education, yet with little signs of "vision";
• Development of new international programmes puts a great deal of extra pressure on staff; there is a permanent lack of time, and of staff prepared to be involved;
• If internationalisation is to be taken seriously, more professional staff are needed At present, this area is largely dependent on a few individuals — if they pull out, sustainability is not guaranteed;
• Non-productive internal competition threatens positive development of international activities
• Recruitment problems with new students exist owing to a negative image of academic careers among the public. Secondary-level schools fail to motivate students to engage in BOKU-type of studies. There is a danger that the institution might disappear completely; this could also happen if BOKU cannot stand up to competition from other comparable institutions abroad or if it completely loses prestige in the public's opinion.
• There is a lack of interest among a large proportion of BOKU scientists to join the general internationalisation efforts, combined with a decreasing enthusiasm to participate in committee work, hinders progress.

Possibilities

• BOKU’s scientific spectrum makes it very attractive for international collaboration. Some expertise could be marketed much more efficiently (e.g. organic farming, sustainable land-use, alpine forestry; linking concepts from food science and biotechnology with those of the nutritional sciences (i.e. technology and life) should be aimed at;
• CEEC institutions are still looking towards us for guidance., BOKU should use this advantage, especially as far as the provision of sustainable systems of primary production and land-use are concerned;
• BOKU’s position between West and East enables us to act as a "hub", bringing together western and eastern concepts and exploiting synergies by amalgamating them into a new product (e.g. summer courses where students move between several Central European institutions);
• BOKU has many possibilities of being involved in international networks. As a result of the efforts of the last 10 years, it is acknowledged as a reliable partner. BOKU must make use of this "credit", incorporating this in a general strategic concept
• From a scientific point of view, BOKU’s combination of agricultural, land-use oriented disciplines and the more technically oriented such as land and water management and engineering or food science and biotechnology helps to avoid the current trend affecting purely agricultural institutions (rejection of current, more intensive agriculture leads to a strong decline in student numbers). Therefore BOKU should market those disciplines which are more environmentally-oriented or food-health focused. BOKU claims to deal with all areas of renewable resources, thus it should be able to become more strongly involved in technical, planning and socio-political aspects of renewable resource management.

Review of answers to B

There seems to be a general understanding that BOKU could do more than it does right now, mainly due to the obstacles listed above. A major question is whether a majority of BOKU staff members recognizes this hidden potential and whether staff are willing to join forces in order to improve the general situation. As finances and funding play a key role, too, it is highly doubtful whether any rapid improvement can be achieved as long as the external challenges and threats remain unchanged.

There may be a need for a general change of strategies in that sense that BOKU has to target specific niches much more strongly in the future, aiming for excellence within a narrower context, using synergies within the existing disciplines. "Small is beautiful" will certainly become an issue when student numbers are expected to decrease considerably during the 2001-02 academic year; the decline should be accompanied by a striving for excellence, which could be achieved even more easily within a limited scope. Staff policy will become a decisive issue. Reduced student numbers will at some stage entail cuts in staff numbers as well, so a real challenge for the future will be to modify the selection policy for academic staff, focusing more strongly on quality and international standing than ever before.

The overall internationalisation strategy will not perhaps have to be changed markedly, but it has to become more mature and its implementation has to gain ground.

D - INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMMES

BOKU has been involved in international exchange programmes since the early 1990s, with ERASMUS / SOCRATES taking the biggest share as from 1992 onwards. Apart from student and staff exchanges (see figures attached in Annex 5), BOKU was involved in several curriculum development programmes (e.g. agriculture: EUTRAC — European Transformation of Agricultural Curricula, Postgraduate Diploma and Certificate, and MSc in European Agricultural Engineering; forestry: European MSc in Forestry, ongoing) and international study programmes (international field camp with Canadian and German forestry students in 1998; EU-Canada programme: "Human Dimensions in 21^st Century Forestry", SOCRATES Intensive Programme "Mountain Forests for Production and Protection, 2000, 2001; SOCRATES Intensive Programme "Rhizosphere Management in Environmental Technologies and Organic Farming", 2001). BOKU scientists co-ordinate a SOCRATES CDA "Economics of mountain systems" (now in its 4th, so-called "dissemination", year), a SOCRATES European Module "Agricultural, Rural and Environmental European Policies" (also in its 4th, dissemination year), and a LEONARDO project "MEDIA NATURAE", which has a strong teaching focus on Central Eastern Europe.

Moreover, BOKU is a partner in many other 2000/2001 educational activities, such as the CDA Total Food Quality Management (co-ordinated by the Universiteit Gent), the Intensive Programmes "Novel and Functional Foods" (co-ordinated by Universiteit Gent), and "Source of raw material for industry" (co-ordinated by Universiteit Gent), "Agrotourism" (co-ordinated by Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry Brno), "Management and Treatment of Polluted Soils in Europe" (co-ordinated by ISA Lille), "Animal Production" (co-ordinated by ESA Angers) and the SOCRATES Summer Programme in Agribusiness (co-ordinated by ESA Purpan).

The internationalisation of the curricula is taking place gradually with an increasing number of international visiting professors giving lectures in English; as can be seen from the Annex , the initiative to invite international lecturers is restricted to rather few institutes so far and one can see a relatively high correlation between the degree of internationalisation of an institute and the frequency of invitations. In addition, some BOKU lecturers have started to offer lectures in English.

One of the effects of the strategy implementation efforts was the decision to develop a package of lectures taught in English, to be marketed with all international partner institutions in order to attract more incoming foreign students. Although the willingness to contribute to these efforts has so far been rather disappointing, approximately 10 such lectures per discipline have been compiled. The final version of the booklet setting out this programme has not yet been published as there is at present no one available at ZIB to do the editing. A new initiative launched by an individual professor plans to put together several existing lectures under the heading "Transdisciplinary Management and Sustainable Land-Use" and to offer this as a subject-related package in English as a second alternative for international students. Since no serious negotiations with the teaching staff expected to be involved have as yet taken place and given the general lack of enthusiasm to invest additional energy in such initiatives, the outcome is still uncertain.

BOKU has six student exchange programmes with overseas institutions in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and USA. Most of them offer our students reduced fees; arranging a complete tuition waiver has not been feasible so far since reciprocity cannot be achieved due to the lack of German language knowledge among the students at our partner institutions.

There have been various efforts at institute level to promote graduate student exchanges for research work only (since most BOKU academics can supervise their graduate students in English, no knowledge of German is required), but unfortunately the number of incoming students has so far been extremely low. For example, BOKU participates in a double-degree programme with the University of Cranfield, where BOKU students can do a one-year Master’s programme and finish their work for their BOKU diploma thesis at the same time. This programme is completely one way so far (i.e. no incoming students), and runs on a fee-waiver basis. Recent efforts have been initiated to set up a joint Master’s programme with Lincoln University, NZ, in the field of environmental and resource management, involving a regular exchange of students from both institutions during their third semester. There is a high degree of enthusiasm among BOKU staff members to develop this new programme, but there are also numerous obstacles which put the brakes on a speedy completion of the draft concept (e.g. the legal situation concerning Master’s programmes is not really clear in Austria; everybody is overloaded with work and has not enough time to take the responsibility for a new programme).

As far as languages are concerned, BOKU students can attend a range of language courses at BOKU. Several years ago ZIB was given the task to co-ordinate the language training for BOKU students. At present, 12 language lecturers provide beginners' and advanced courses (language for special purposes) in English, French, Hungarian, Italian and Spanish, as well as German for foreign students. Since more and more BOKU students envisage a study period or research stay outside Austria, they attend these language courses in order to improve their language knowledge and to obtain the language certificate which is a pre-requisite for a scholarship to study abroad. The new BOKU curricula which have been developed during the last two years stipulate that students have to attend a certain number of lectures taught in a foreign language and take the relevant exams.

During the 2000–01 academic year, the students' representation at BOKU launched a special initiative to intensify knowledge of Slav languages — "BOKU Goes East" was launched by students for students. At present, language courses for Czech, Slovak and Croatian are being offered, and the students' reaction is very positive. This initiative has been financed by a special university budget and will probably be repeated in 2001–02.

There is no tradition in distance education at BOKU, and the use if information and communication technology (ICT) is very limited. Individual lecturers will use ICT-based courses, and occasionally there are joint international exercises via the Internet or using video conferencing. Since last year a working group on "tele-learning" is trying to investigate the existing potential and to develop a more substantial BOKU-wide approach to this new type of teaching and learning.

Flows of outgoing and incoming exchange students and faculty distribution: In 1999–2000, BOKU had 112 outgoing and 68 incoming exchange students (SOCRATES-ERASMUS, Joint-Study, CEEPUS). Their faculty distribution is as follows:

A detailed distribution of exchange students to different scholarship programmes can be found in Annexes 5, 5a and 5b.

Balance: Although the numbers of outgoing and incoming ERASMUS / SOCRATES exchange students is nearly balanced (101 outgoing v. 99 incoming students in 2000–01), this goal is far from being reached for joint-study exchanges, where BOKU had seven outgoing students, but no incoming students at all. Overall, the relationship between outgoing and incoming students still needs improvement.

Foreign degree students: In 1999–2000, BOKU had 47 foreign degree students enrolled for doctoral studies at BOKU, supported by an Austrian scholarship scheme (the so-called North-South Dialogue scholarship).

Full-fee paying students: 6 students (summer semester 2001)

Quality assurance of international programmes: Austrian universities do not have a strong tradition in quality assurance. There has been a system of evaluating lectures in place for some years whereby students complete a form comprising set questions in respect of individual courses. Unfortunately, there are no consequences and sanctions whatsoever following a negative evaluation.

An evaluation of research performance and its practical realization is still under discussion, though the relevant Act was passed some time ago. Individual staff members have been involved in international programmes in which quality control was an integral part, thus there is a certain amount of know-how available. Since the Austrian system does not require any additional measures in this respect, this expertise is at present not being used.

Quality assurance of all international involvements of BOKU staff has also to be seen from that angle. Lecturing in a foreign language, either by BOKU staff or by international lecturers, is being evaluated by BOKU students, while involvement in international research projects is subject to the integral internal project-evaluation process. Furthermore, joint international programmes such as IPs also have a quality control/evaluation mechanism as an integral part of their timetable. So far, the active participation and good cooperation of involved students and staff is still seen as a quality criterion that is more relevant than strict evaluation procedures. As far as studying abroad is concerned, the fact of having studied abroad is still seen as being more important than the quality standard of the institution visited.

Research collaboration — participation of graduate students in international projects: Graduate students are regularly involved in international projects — if the institute is involved in projects! Such involvement can take place at the level of a diploma thesis or at the doctoral level. In many cases, graduates will remain at BOKU while working on a project, more and more nowadays an EU project. Certain BOKU institutes which are strongly research oriented insist on their graduate students doing part of their research work abroad; however, when sending the best students abroad, there is apprehension that they might not return.

Information on such programmes is usually obtained via the ZIB's homepage and publications, from the homepage of the Vice-Rectorate for Research, or directly from the academics. The students particularly appreciate the information on potential diploma thesis topics to be found on the ZIB homepage and which is regularly updated by the ZIB team.

Students' representatives indicated in their response to the questionnaire that they would appreciate a stronger interaction with ZIB and that the students’ newsletter should be used more often to publicise relevant information on international programmes and events.

As far as staff members are concerned, the information flow was generally qualified as being sufficient and adequate. It was sometimes mentioned that there was enough information available, but little real interest among students. In particular, highly motivated academics encounter situations where several options are offered to the students but hardly anyone is prepared to take them up (though sometimes the very narrow, subject-specific nature of topics can be a hindrance — in particular in Forestry).

Research priorities of BOKU (according to VR for Research): BOKU’s Mission Statement stipulates promoting basic research combined with applied research, a focus on practical application, and a stewardship for the sustainable development of renewable natural resources.

The BOKU Research Stimulation (a special funding programme of BOKU launched in 1999) focuses on the following topics, all of which have to be treated in an interdisciplinary fashion:
Sustainable development of rural areas
Soil–water–plants–atmosphere
Environment–health–food
Ecological research for the future

Other criteria relevant for BOKU researchers (key words):

Interdisciplinary – international – cooperation with industry – CD-laboratories – Kplus programme – practice orientation – transfer of research results to practice.

Participation in EU research projects:

• 3rd Framework Programme: involved in 5 projects;
• 4th Framework Programme: involved in 59 projects (FAIR, BIOTECH, Environment and Climate, Standardisation, Measurements and Testing, TRANSPORT, INCO-DC, INCO-Copernicus);
• 5th Framework Programme: 18 projects running (QLMLR, EESD, GROWTH, IST, IHP);
• 17 other EU-financed projects (e.g. 8 LIFE-projects, 4 INTERREG projects);

There are a further 23 projects involving countries outside Europe (Australia, Asia, Latin-America, USA).

Additional sources of research funding are the Austrian National Science Foundation (FWF), the Austrian Research Society, various other national foundations, and industry. The Vice-Rectorate for Research provides ample information on the best way to tap these resources.

BOKU is currently preparing an International Congress on "Life and Survival – Strategies for the Future" which is to take place in November 2001. It is being jointly organised with the agricultural universities in Prague and Sopron and focuses on three major areas: Sustainable Development in Rural Areas; The Blue and the Green Space; Health–Food–Environment. It aims address the business community, interested people among the general public, especially young people, as well as political decision makers (see attachment). This event will be marked by a high degree of interdisciplinary and international collaboration, and it will possibly lead to more collaboration between the disciplines at BOKU in the future.

Generally, research plays a very important role within BOKU departments and faculties, and there is general agreement that teaching without research would be unacceptable sate of affairs. However, the younger academic staff have to accept a rather heavy teaching load and hardly come to grips with their own research commitments (e.g. doctoral dissertation). International involvement is generally seen as something extremely valuable, and there is a clear preference for international involvement in research. However, taking responsibility for international teaching programmes earns little recognition, and in some instances is even seen as an unnecessary burden by the department head. It would seem to be very necessary to provide some new career criteria that include involvement in international educational activities having an equivalent status to involvement in international research projects.

It was also mentioned quite frequently that the University should provide some support with preparation of research texts for publication (e.g. help with translations, editing. proof-reading etc.). If to be foreseen, such support could perhaps be channelled through ZIB or the Vice-Rectorate for Research; closer collaboration between the two units was recommended.

Development cooperation: It is mainly individual scientists who are the strong players in development cooperation, while there is no overall university strategy for this important area. A few years ago, BOKU set up a special website where all projects dealing with developing countries were listed: at present 61 projects are listed. The fact that none of the participants in the survey referred to this site reflects the low interest in this type of compilation.

It was revealed very clearly in numerous discussions during the last year that many faculty members would want a more co-ordinated approach in this field. A new initiative has been recently been launched by faculty members within the Institute of Organic Farming that brings together BOKU scientists in the field of sustainable land-use in tropical areas; a new part-time position has been created to co-ordinate these activities in teaching and research: this can be seen as the first systematic approach towards development issues at BOKU.

At present, especially the water management institutes, the institutes for wildlife and for forest ecology, and several agricultural institutes are involved in projects in a number of developing countries (Bhutan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico, Senegal, Uganda, and others in South-East Asia). BOKU is also involved in networks such as NATURA, CGIAR, European Forum, ETFRN, ASEAUNINET.

Several institutes have indirect contacts with developing countries via graduate students who pursue doctoral students at BOKU. Partly supported by an Austrian scholarship programme, they study in Austria on a sandwich basis (initial phase and final phase in Austria, data collection and research in their home country), while the BOKU supervisor usually travels at least once to the student’s research site. Many on-going research contacts result from these support schemes. Unfortunately these scholarships provide rather limited funds and it is often very difficult to realise the planned research in an adequate fashion because there is no money for essential equipment.

BOKU scientists in the field of sanitary and wastewater engineering act as national consultants for the Austrian development-aid section in East Africa; their positions are partly financed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs , and they spend most of the time allocated to such projects in Africa.

E - SUPPORT MECHANISMS FOR INTERNATIONALISATION

Quite a high proportion of international activities at BOKU are facilitated, stimulated and supported by the Centre for International Relations. In collaboration with a dedicated group of academics who act as co-ordinators for SOCRATES and other exchange programmes, ZIB fulfills its essential task to improve BOKU's degree of internationalisation and to enable as many BOKU staff members and students as possible to benefit from the various international programmes.

1) The role of ZIB / CIR (Centre for International Relations):

ZIB is one of several service units of the university, it is headed by a director who is a civil servant and appointed by the Rector. Officially, the Centre's budget depends on the Rector's consent, in practice, it manages its budget completely independently. It has at present 4 full-time and 2 part-time employees who work for the international office, moreover, 4 additional staff members belonging to the Vice-Rectorates for Research and Continuing Education, are attached to ZIB for administrative purposes (see attached organigram).

Since there is no Vice-Rector for International Relations, the official overall responsibility for international affairs lies with the Rector, and as far as international studies are concerned, the Associate Dean for International Study Programmes plays an important role in the planning process of new international educational activities. In this function he is supported by the director of ZIB.

ZIB's main task is to provide information and know-how on all aspects of academic international relations, the director acts also as the Rector's main advisor in international matters; a certain part of the university budget (international funds) and several scholarship programmes are managed by ZIB; the selection is done by a special committee (Auslandsbeirat) comprising one representative per discipline and the director of ZIB, it is chaired by the Associate Dean for International Study Programmes.

There is a certain tension between ZIB's role as a purely operational unit (main tasks: to execute decisions taken at a higher level and to act as a students' counselling centre) and its (director's) function as a strategic element within the university management; this role is not adequately taken into account, neither by university leaders nor by the university staff and it is considered as rather unsatisfactory by the ZIB staff.

ZIB's role in the internationalisation process is to facilitate, to provide ideas, to stimulate & motivate staff members, to advise responsibles on strategic decisions. Moreover the senior ZIB staff are often involved in own projects as co-ordinators or partners.

As many international activities which are of a strategic nature are taken care of by the ZIB director beside her regular functions, this is sometimes too much and leads to a not so well-structured approach without a clear concept; since there are so many activities initiated and pursued, it does not show too openly, but is painfully felt by the ZIB director!

The overall result of the survey proves that ZIB fulfills its role in a highly satisfactory way. There is general agreement that ZIB should continue in a similar way, there is no need for a Vice-Rector for International Affairs: a strong and central support unit is seen as the best option. A stronger involvement of institutes in the general internationalisation process is stipulated by some faculty members, asking for a more bottom-up approach rather than too much of a top-down option as far as new international activities are concerned. Quite a few faculty members point out that a strengthening of ZIB's staff capacity is mandatory, because many shortcomings which are due to staff shortages are presently compensated by the active director and her very efficient deputy. But this is no sustainable solution and can lead to a rather desastrous situation whenever one of them quits the job.

2. Other mechanisms that support internationalisation at BOKU

Visiting Professors Scheme

There has been a steady increase of visiting professors over the last few years. The Dean of Studies is responsible for a special budget line which offers funding to incoming scientists who lecture at BOKU for a certain period. Due to a more recent decision of the Dean of Studies to invest these available funds preferably in shorter lecturing stays for more international scholars (compact / blocked course) instead of supporting long-term stays of few people, more active scientists from abroad can benefit from this opportunity, and there is also an additional possibility for them to become involved in international and interdisciplinary research projects at the same time. Moreover, they will act as promoters for BOKU once they have returned to their home-universities.

As has been pointed out in the questionnaires, this instrument is mainly used by a rather small number of institutes which are traditionally very internationally oriented, therefore it is certainly necessary to improve the dissemination of the information and to motivate more institutes at BOKU to make use of this valuable tool (see Annex 6 with detailed list of visiting professors) .

Outgoing Staff Mobility

There is general agreement that more BOKU staff members should spend short-term teaching stays abroad. The SOCRATES option is slowly becoming more attractive and there are also the university's "international funds" which provide financing for lecturing abroad. Obstacles on the way to an increased mobility flow of BOKU faculty members are mainly seen in the current employment regulations which make absences during the semester, especially for younger staff members, rather difficult, and there may also be an insufficient flow of information concerning the various options available. Nevertheless it is felt that this type of international activity is extremely important for a better understanding between the institutions since outgoing lecturers can act as ambassadors for BOKU abroad who will strongly stimulate the incoming student mobility.

Student Mobility

One of the major targets of BOKU's internationalisation strategy is the improvement and increase of student mobility. At present there exist various possibilities of funding study or research stays of students abroad:

• within the EU and the associated countries SOCRATES provides scholarships for studying abroad
• for countries outside the EU (within or outside Europe) there exist several support schemes:

1. scholarships within cultural agreements
2. scholarships within joint-study programmes
3. scholarships to prepare a diploma or doctoral thesis abroad

2)and 3) are administered within the University and a special selection committee decides on the applications. The number of BOKU students making use of these types of scholarship has been steadily growing and the detailed figures can be found in table nr....

These statistics have to be seen in the Austrian context. A governmental report on student mobility in Austria during the mid-nineties showed BOKU in the second best position as far as graduates having spent a study period abroad were concerned (35%). Also the relation between outgoing BOKU students and the total number of BOKU students (4,4%) was much higher than the Austrian average (2,7%).

Students' academic and social support:

a) for outgoing students:

Academic support for outgoing students within the ERASMUS or Joint-Study Programmes is given by the departmental co-ordinators who advise them on lectures at the host university and their acknowledgeability at BOKU. In addition to this, the ZIB library contains lists with telephone numbers of students who have already been abroad and are prepared to inform about courses they have taken, and the library also comprises course books and information guides for exchange students of partner universities that can help them in establishing their study programme. The ZIB-Website with links to the partner universities' homepages is another possibility of finding useful information.

The final decision concerning the acknowledgement of learning agreements is taken by the head of the respective study commission.

Academic support for students spending a research semester abroad for their diploma or doctoral thesis is performed by the thesis supervisors, both at BOKU and the partner institution.

Social support for outgoing students is given in individual consultancies, by checklists ("things to remember before starting your semester abroad") and by general information brochures or administrative staff of the partner universities.

b) for incoming students:

Academic support:

Advice is given to all incoming students, according to their specific needs:

• for students who want to attend lectures within an exchange programme, information is available via the BOKU-Website (electronic course book, ECTS guide), directly from the departmental coordinator at BOKU or at the international office of their home institution which regularly receives BOKU's ECTS guides and course books.
• for students who want to enrol for a diploma study, an outline of the application procedures, scholarships available and courses offered is given, either by the admissions office (Studienabteilung) in case of applications in German or by the ZIB (for all international requests).
• for students who want to do research work for their diploma or doctoral thesis at BOKU, get a practical placement at one of our departments or register for doctoral studies, contacts to suitable supervisors are made and information on scholarships available is provided by the ZIB.

Social support: All incoming students get help in finding accommodation: for exchange students, accommodation is guaranteed in student halls of residence of the Austrian Exchange Service or in private appartments rented by BOKU's outgoing students, and for international students enrolling for full degree programmes at BOKU, ZIB's housing service provides help in finding accommodation in student dormitories or private houses.

Furthermore, special Welcome Days for all international students are organised at the beginning of the semester. During these days, ZIB-staff , departmental co-ordinators, BOKU's administrative staff and members of the Student's Union show them all BOKU buildings, explain them how to use the library and how to get an e-mail account (and other practical aspects of living in Vienna and studying at BOKU) and organise a guided city tour to make them familiar with their new surrounding. ECTS Guides and Welcome Brochures are distributed.

In addition, all exchange students get the help of their individual "buddy". BOKU's Buddy-Network, which is co-ordinated by ZIB, was established in 1997 and now consists of a group of about 40 former outgoing ERASMUS students who help the incoming students in all matters related to studying and living in Vienna. ZIB organises a welcome dinner for buddies and incoming students at the beginning of the semester, and a joint excursion at the end of the summer semester. During the semester, it is the task of the buddies to organise visits to theatres, exhibitions, cinemas, parties, excursions etc. In the beginning, the network was not organised on an individual tutor basis, there was simply a group of buddies and a group of incoming students for which weekly meetings at a student's pub were arrranged, but as this approach turned out to be unsatisfactory for both our buddies and incoming students, we moved to a personalized system.

BOKU's Internal and Interdisciplinary Research Stimulation

Both the Mission Statement and the Internationalisation Strategy stipulate a stronger involvement in international research which should also be more interdisciplinary. This inter-disciplinarity should be particularly strengthened within BOKU in order to make us more internationally competent, compatible and attractive. Since 1999 a special University budget line has been allocated by the Rector to the stimulation of BOKU-internal research, so far focusing on "Sustainable Development of Rural Areas"(1999), "Soil - Water - Plant - Atmosphere"(1999), "Environment - Health - Food"(1999), "Ecological Research for the Future"(2001). The idea is to support interdisciplinary research teams which apply for pilot studies or for accompanying project extensions of already existing and reviewed projects with the goal to collect so much experience and competence to be more successful with applications based on such pilot projects.

The Role of Central Administration in BOKU's Internationalisation Process

BOKU's "Zentrale Verwaltung" comprises various units which are more or less strongly involved in international activities. The Division of Studies caters for the needs of incoming students who want to enrol or get studies abroad recognised, and it is also responsible, together with the Heads of the Study Commissions, for the academic recognition of study abroad periods of BOKU students. There is basic understanding between Rector and the Head of the Division that admission of international students should be handled in an extremely flexible way and thus, there are basically no serious problems and BOKU's number of international students has steadily increased over the last years. With the introduction of fees as from next academic year onwards, the number of Austrian students will probably decrease considerably and the percentage of international students will thus gain additional weight within BOKU.

There is a strong need for special language-training for staff members within the Division which has already been mentioned in the Internationalisation Strategy but no action has been taken yet.

As far as the financial side of international activities is concerned, the "Quaestur" (Central Accountants' Office) handles all relevant payments. Whenever a BOKU staff member is provided with funding from the "international funds", ZIB will pass the respective forms on to the Quaestur which performs the actual payment. Cooperation between ZIB and Quaestur runs extremely smoothly and BOKU staff is generally quite satisfied with this unbureaucratic handling of financial support. As far as visiting professors are concerned, the situation proves somewhat more complicated: after approval by the Dean of Studies, the invitation for a visiting professor is passed on via the Personnel Section to Quaestur. Since every visiting professor is officially invited for at least 1 semester - even though he gives the lecture in a blocked form in 2 or 3 weeks - the payment has to be done - according to Austrian law - in monthly installments all through the semester, while the professor is no longer in Austria and the payment has to be done via international bank transfer.

Collaboration between ZIB and central PR service

One of the weak points in the present scenario is the lacking collaboration between ZIB and BOKU's central PR service. Issues of major concern are an adequate distribution of information within the university as well as the preparation and dissemination of information material about BOKU and its possibilities for international students and staff in- and outside Austria. At present, ZIB has to take care of this task as well, and since no staff member is specially trained for this job, neither is there enough free capacity available, these elements, which are extremely important for a better international positioning of BOKU, are not sufficiently looked after.

The overall opinion which can be extracted from the survey reflects this unsatisfactory situation: nobody really feels that the University's PR service - if it exists at all - has anything to do with the internationalisation process; it is recommended to develop a new concept of collaboration to create synergies between the two units; there definitely is a need for more material (brochures, info flyers, presentation material, an improved homepage) which the PR service should be in charge of.

Range of collaborative agreements with foreign partner institutions for education and research. Membership in other networks

BOKU has presently about 35 collaborative agreements with institutions all over the world (see Annex 7). The importance of most of them is minimal. Some of them date back to the 80s and early 90s when especially Eastern European institutions needed such agreements in order to enable their staff members to travel to Western partner institutions. Meanwhile most of these agreements have either been replaced by SOCRATES bilateral agreements, or they are just "dormant" because neither side takes any interest in them. When the internationalisation strategy was set up, it was decided to develop new regulations for future linkages(see Annex 8)

At present, only those agreements can be considered as being active and valuable for BOKU where a student exchange agreement is involved. We have 6 so-called "joint-study programmes" in place with institutions in North America, Australia and New Zealand. Based either on a tuition fee waiver or on a tuition fee reduction basis, BOKU students can study at the partner institutions for 1 to 2 semesters. As a matter of fact, all student exchange agreements are based on a certain reciprocity and due to the fact that hardly any overseas students have a sufficient knowledge of German, it is very difficult for the partner institutions to find students interested in coming to BOKU. Unless we risk the cancellation of most of these agreements (which just happened with one US-institution), we will have to provide some attractive packages in English or the possibilities for future exchanges will dwindle considerably during the coming years.

BOKU is involved in the following international networks:

ICA (Interuniversity Consortium for Agricultural and Related Sciences in Europe)

IROICA (European Network of International Relations Officers at HEIs for Agricultural & Related Sciences)

CRE (European Rectors’ Conference)

DRC (Danube Rectors’ Conference)

ASEA-UNINET (Asian-European University Network)

IUFRO (International Union of Forest Research Organisations)

EFI (European Forestry Institute)

SILVA (European Network of Forestry Faculties)

NATURA (Network of European Agricultural (Tropically and Subtropically Oriented) Universities and Scientific Complexes Related with Agricultural Development

CGIAR (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research)

EIARD

ETFRN

AFANet (SOCRATES Thematic Network in Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture and the Environment)

ETNET Water (SOCRATES Thematic Network in the Area of Water)

BIOTECHNOLOGY (SOCRATES Thematic Network in Biotechnology)

FOODNET (SOCRATES Thematic Network for Food Technology)

MEDIA NATURAE (LEONARDO educational project, will run as a University Course as from next academic year onwards)

The adherence to these networks is partly institute-based, partly the whole university is involved.

F - STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONALISATION AND THE INSTITUTION'S CAPACITY FOR CHANGE

1) The following main priorities have been identified by the staff members involved in the survey

• A focus on "internationalisation" must become part of BOKU’s identity and culture;
• BOKU must gain additional international competence through high-quality study programmes and research projects. This cannot happen without additional financial inputs, thus more financial resources are required;
• BOKU should offer more lectures taught in English in order to become more attractive for international students. This should be done in collaboration with international partners;
• Foreign languages should be a major component in all courses of study;
• In accordance with the strategy of internationalization, the number of incoming and outgoing students should be increased and a balance achieved;
• BOKU should develop top-ranking quality and competence in research, and there should be additional efforts to cooperate with quality research groups abroad. A strong emphasis on interdisciplinary research would strengthen BOKU's international research profile;
• Since it is impossible to be a key player in all research areas, priorities have to be set. There should be a major focus on key BOKU fields, such as nutrition, land-use, environmentally-related engineering, the protection of the environment and sustainability;
• BOKU should also be more strongly involved in the current discussion relating to "hard" and "soft" agricultural production;
• BOKU scientists have to be represented more strongly at international events and within staff exchange programmes;
• Recruitment for careers in academia has to be improved and an environment for excellence in science has to be created. This includes: best possible technical infrastructure; liberal and stimulating environment for students and young faculty; teaching and research staff should be less burdened by bureaucracy in order to be able to fully concentrate on scientific and teaching excellence;
• BOKU should focus on the development of networks involving both academic and non-academic partners (industry, communities). Especially in regard to Central-Eastern Europe, there should be a goal of "ecologising our area" from an economic, socio-cultural and sustainability point of view;
• BOKU should become a partner in international benchmarking processes for both research and teaching.

2) Proposed shifts of emphasis

• More active involvement of academic staff in the internationalisation process;
• More strategic planning: priorities should be suggested by institutes (bottom-up), financial, administrative and PR support should come from central administration;
• In order to improve the staff's identification with and "internalization" of BOKU's Mission Statement, the statements should become more concrete, thereby promoting implementation of its concepts in the various programmes;
• BOKU should develop a stronger profile both in development issues and in its contacts with Eastern Europe;
• Improvement of internal co-operation, more team-spirit, and a better collaboration between the disciplines in the improvement of study programmes for international students. There needs to be a reduction of bureaucratic hurdles (academic recognition);
• Student mobility should be concentrated on the senior level (thesis work abroad): there would be no problems with academic recognition, tuition fees, language barriers. Institutes themselves could provide contacts, while ZIB should help with the organisation. Priority countries and scientific fields should be defined by BOKU;
• In education there should be more direct contact between teaching staff and students (implementation of a US/UK style of tutoring system);
• Professional support in international activities should be provided (English correspondence; secretarial support for the organisation of events etc.);
• Increased support for international meetings initiated or co-sponsored by BOKU. Additionally, stronger representation of BOKU staff at international meetings, especially those dealing with the sustainable ("wise") use of natural resources;
• Additional financial support for international visiting lecturers and scientists;
• Better marketing of BOKU’s research performance both within Austria and abroad;
• Clearer definition of what BOKU stands for — stronger positioning as the "University of Life";
• Since better international positioning can only be founded on scientific excellence, there should be a shift of emphasis towards those areas within BOKU and among its partners that can provide excellence;
• International staff should be favoured, half of the post-doctoral staff and junior assistants should come from abroad;
• More internal information flow, communication and co-ordination in international matters;
• Better distribution of information towards the outside world (PR);
• More distribution of information on international matters in the students‘ newsletters;
• More international activities with active student involvement;

3) How adequate are current approaches?

• Teaching: from average to good, depending on individual teaching staff. SOCRATES exchange is in place in all disciplines. New development: lectures taught in English, still rather deficient. Teaching should become more modularised (easier for short-term exchange students), more problem-oriented and more strongly based on case-studies;
• Danger of frequent, poorly planned, unevaluated change: During recent years there were several waves of curriculum reform — no evaluation of results of previous reforms;
• Research: Great differences between the disciplines. High standing of Food Science and Biotechnology: intensive cooperation schemes with industry in place, new competence centre in preparation. Other areas much weaker. Future improvement is closely linked to BOKU’s policy of appointing new academics. Generally, too little financial support available, except from EU projects (very low success rate in gaining access to these!) and NSF funding. A particular weakness: reduction of library budget — impossible to buy scientific books or journals with project funds;
• Research should be left completely within the responsibility of the institutes. Support units should only provide information on funding sources or stimulate joint curriculum developments which often encourage future research collaboration;
• Quality control: In teaching — via the usual evaluation sheets. Since the results do not have any consequences, they are a rather inefficient tool. In research — scientists undergo the relevant peer review processes, depending on their involvement in the scientific community: a national research-quality evaluation is only gradually coming into being. Generally speaking, quality control is a new phenomenon in Austrian academic life;
• Personnel: academic personnel is mostly hesitant to be more strongly involved in international summer courses, team-teaching or in the supervision of foreign thesis work. Those who are internationally active (especially in the co-ordination of educational programmes) are overburdened with work and there is no adequate recognition for this extra workload;
• An extended research stay abroad should be part of every scientist’s CV; at present there is not enough motivation and there are no sanctions for remaining a mediocre, local "Platzhirsch" (territorial stag). Moreover, the current employment regulations do not favour such stays: there is neither a post-doctoral nor a regular sabbatical system in place. Project financing is limited to doctoral research, and it may become difficult in the future to interest young graduates for a scientific career; Only a limited number of academics should be involved in central strategic and administrative tasks — otherwise only very few will be left to benefit from these central planning measures!
• Finances: if internationalisation is to be taken seriously, a stronger financial commitment for the implementation of appropriate measures is essential and inevitable.
• There is general agreement that the domestic finances available at present range from poor to insufficient. While international activities in the field of education are rather adequately supported by EU mobility programmes and by national scholarship programmes, no adequate financing is provided by BOKU or any Ministry to maintain state-of-the-art research.
• Highly research-oriented institutes depend on external funding, which is usually project-based, and therefore a weakening of the infrastructure may follow. There should be efforts by BOKU to develop overall concepts and then look for sponsors.
• Especially in research for development, the funding from Austrian Development Cooperation has been severely cut, and it is almost impossible nowadays to get projects funded in this area;
• ICT: While there are some individual efforts to offer computer-based courses, there is no overall concept regarding any aspect of this. A networking-group has recently been set up to co-ordinate BOKU’s approach to e-learning. At present, there are only four members left — no corporate interest or just lack of information?
• As far as computer-support in general is concerned, BOKU is quite well equipped. Students can attend training programmes and use PCs in the numerous users‘ rooms, while every student can get a private e-mail account and even access the internet via BOKU from outside;
• ZID (Central Information Service) is a very well functioning service unit. They provide support for BOKU's internationalisation efforts via the production of BOKU videos and the creation and maintenance of the BOKU website. The latter was, however, heavily criticised in the survey, but it is being redesigned.

4) What changes are necessary?

• A clear commitment of BOKU in favour of international excellence
• An efficient working-group / platform / committee with a clear mission should fulfil a co-ordinating function in international matters; ZIB should be strengthened and the PR unit should be activated for the international domain; BOKU’s "international funds" should be allocated according to clear guidelines and efficiency considerations, including efficiency evaluation.
• Internationalization will also rely on having a changed selection policy for teaching staff (which must not depend on internal preferences or be curtailed by budget cuts!). International orientation should become a major criterion within the appointment procedure;
• To improve cooperation within BOKU in furthering internationalisation, and to collaborate with bodies externally who can help to achieve this aim;
• To get additional financial support from Government or other sources;
• Collaboration agreements should have co-ordinators appointed to provide better efficiency;
• Easier access to BOKU’s "international funds" for project-funded staff;
• Switch to two-tier system with a general undergraduate curriculum (focus on tools and concepts), and a series of specialised graduate programmes;
• Teaching should also be better focused on internationalisation;
• BOKU curricula should be harmonized with recognized international curricula;
• The grading system should be harmonized with ECTS;
• The library and scientific literature budget should be strengthened;
• Development of international benchmarking, e.g. in collaboration with ICA or an international group of recognized excellence;

5) How should BOKU's culture evolve?

• Given the high number of highly diverse international activities at BOKU, concentration and focusing on priorities is mandatory. This will lead to a better visibility of the activities. Structural changes will require division of normal day-to-day business from project work;
• Better balance between top-down and bottom-up approach of international activities. A platform for an exchange of ideas and for joint project development should be created. No abandoning of broad decision-making mechanisms as a consequence of efficiency considerations;
• More involvement of students and of academic and administrative staff will provide better information flow and feedback. Organisation of one-day workshops once a year (outside Vienna) where information could be exchanged and joint initiatives envisaged; involving professors, assistants and students;
• Strengthening of the active collaboration between institutes and disciplines, building a good team-spirit. Internal cooperation should be strengthened through the creation of interdisciplinary activities as well as projects (e.g. the development of international postgraduate courses).
• Clearer indications by the substantive groups delivering teaching and research of what support services they need to operate effectively and efficiently. This would enable support groups such as ZIB to tailor their outputs to students and staff to match properly articulated needs;
• International exchanges at all levels should be advertised, and persons taking up major challenges and completing them successfully should be rewarded. Strengthened staff exchange will increase the motivation to undertake other international activities, and may bring stronger involvement of hitherto not so internationally oriented faculty members;

6) Impact of change

It appears important / instrumental to emphasize to the BOKU administration and others that:

• Internationalization of universities has became a key element for external acceptance that they have teaching and research competence, and that they can compete with other universities worldwide;
• internationalization needs a strategic concept for the university as a whole, fundamental to its operation and not purely as an optional addition or because mission statements and strategy are current management fashion;
• Internationalization as part of corporate identity is not "cost neutral". It cannot be meaningfully be implemented without providing the necessary resources, people, funds and time.

Clearly, some corresponding shifts in budget allocations have to be considered and realized, and also that personnel policies will have to be changed.

7) Other topics

More BOKU-internal interdisciplinary in research (pilot) projects as well as in (team) teaching appears highly instrumental as promoting cooperation and a greater acceptance of internationalisation. It would appear meaningful to focus the new curriculum-modules as well as the Rector's research funding initiative on becoming more internationally oriented (e.g. modules taught in English / non degree modules; post-doctoral researchers from abroad).

According to some of the participants in the survey, the targets and outputs of ZIB were not stated clearly enough in the questionnaire. There was also some concern about the fate of this evaluation and on how to proceed to gain a maximum benefit from what was quite a major exercise.

There has also been some comment that many of the activities undertaken by ZIB have in the past been invented by ZIB itself, by its selecting of activities from among the diffuse suggestions and demands coming from various quarters inside and outside BOKU. The penultimate recommendation of Section 5 above would enable ZIB to tailor its programmes to provide its share of support to staff and students for the growing focus on internationalization at BOKU.

Last update: 11.6.2001 IT