University of Klagenfurt

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University of Klagenfurt


Established	1971
Type	Public
Rector	Heinrich C. Mayr
Faculty	3
Staff	400
Students	7,000
Location	Klagenfurt, Austria
Website	www.uni-klu.ac.at/

The University of Klagenfurt was founded in 1971 in Klagenfurt, Austria. It started off as a College of Educational Studies (Hochschule für Bildungswissenschaften). Since October 2004 the official German name is Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt in order to stress the intercultural connections between the Alpine regions and the Adriatic Sea. (In English the university leaves out the cognomen Alpen-Adria.) It hosts about 7,000 students and about 400 academic staff and contract teachers (2004).

The University is situated on a beautiful campus in the attractive Wörthersee region of Klagenfurt. It hosts three faculties: (1) Humanities, (2) Economics, Business Administration and Computer Science and (3) Interdisciplinary Research and Continuing Education.

Surprisingly for such a small and relatively unpopular university (Austrian students tend either to stay at home to study or to go to the big cities of Vienna and Graz), Klagenfurt University has come off very well in the regular rankings of courses and universities. Unlike practically all other universities in Austria, there are few courses where pressure of numbers leads to students being excluded. The student-staff ratio is also very favourable.

1 History
2 Notable alumni
3 See also
4 External links

In 1964 the Kärntner Universitätsbund was founded, an association to develop a university for the Carinthian region. In 1966 the plan was to set up an institute of higher education in economics; however, by 1968 a new plan had been formed to create an institute for educational science. In 1970 the Austrian parliament passed a law allowing its development, and in 1971 the first, temporary building was in use. In 1972 the first student completed a doctorate there.

From 1973 to 1978 academic courses were started in philosophy, history, German and English language and literature, French, the Slavic languages, mathematics, geography and linguistics. From 1973 the first regular courses at degree and doctorate level began and teachers were trained.

These courses were at first still taking place in temporary buildings, however, as work did not begin on the main university building until 1974. The final, south section was completed in 2000.

In 1975 new laws on the forms of higher education came into force and the name of the institute was changed to Universität für Bildungswissenschaften. This also required a university council to be formed: its first meeting took place in 1976.

In 1977 the first graduation ceremony took place for students completing a Magister degree.

An inter-university research institute for teaching technology, media skills and the teaching of engineering was founded in 1978 but closed down ten years later. In 1979 an inter-university research institute for distance studies was founded. This changed its name to the interuniversity institute for interdisciplinary research and further education (Interuniversitäres Institut für interdisziplinäre Forschung und Fortbildung, IFF) in 1991.

Since 1983 the university has formed partnerships with various foreign universities, now 28 in all. From the same year on, new courses in applied business administration and computer science were developed.

The university officially became the "University of Klagenfurt" in 1993, at the same time setting up faculties for culture studies, applied economics and computer science. Since October 1, 2004 the university has been officially called the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt.