Universities of Tomorrow: Global, Interdisciplinary, Digitized, Sustainable” (UNITO)

Due date: 31. August 2021
Date: November 4th, 2021, 10 am – 7 pm (CEST)
Venue: HTWG Konstanz, Germany (virtual event)
Submission Deadline for abstracts: August 31st, 2021
Conference Chair: Prof. Dr. Thomas Birkhölzer, Vice President HTWG Konstanz

The complex social, political, economic, and environmental issues of today and the exponential rise of digital technology pose new challenges to societies and enterprises worldwide - and thus to universities as well. They need to respond to these developments today by educating and training the experts, specialists, and leaders of tomorrow. The underlying long-lasting trends - globalization, interdisciplinarity, digitalization, sustainability - have been fuelled and accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Challenging times call for innovative measures. New approaches to teaching, research, and international collaboration are continuously reshaping the landscapes of higher education. The conference shall provide a platform to present, discuss, and share such innovative ideas, concepts, experiences, and best practices for the future. Questions to be addressed might include the following:
 
• What are the critical skills and areas of competence for tomorrow and how can we teach them most appropriately?
• How can a higher education system unleash the full potential of its learners?
• How can we meet the global challenges such as sustainability and digitalization as institutions of higher education?
• Where and how can we build alliances across and beyond universities?
• How can we sustain and strengthen university partnerships and collaborative efforts in times of climate change and limited mobility?

We encourage contributions across all academic disciplines and stakeholders, researchers, teaching staff, practitioners, and International Office members to ensure a wide variety of perspectives on these questions.
Distinguished keynote speakers will enrich the conference and stimulate the discussion.
Talks will be assigned 30-minute time slots with about 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for questions and discussion.

To actively participate, please submit an abstract (about 300 words) by August 31st, 2021 to unito@htwg-konstanz.de. All submissions will be reviewed. Accepted contributions are invited to hand in a short paper (two to four pages) as well by November 4th. The papers will be published.
The event will be hosted in English. Presentations will be recorded and be virtually available on the conference platform.