2_0_DiscoverGermany_October14_Issue19:Scan Magazine 1
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Viennese Universität für Bodenkultur Wien researches how to make life more sustainable The Universität für Bodenkultur, BOKU for short, is a university for life sciences and natural resource management situated in Vienna. In research and education BOKU focuses on how to conserve and protect natural resources for generations to come. In connecting natural sciences, engineering and economics the university has an interdisciplinary approach. TEXT: JESSICA HOLZHAUSEN | PHOTOS: BOKU
“In the fields of agriculture and forest science, food science, biotechnology in all its facets, environment – especially water, soil and atmosphere – renewable resources and wood technology as well as spatial planning BOKU is the number one address in Central Europe,” says vice chancellor Martin Hubert Gerzabek. Researching sustainability and how to protect natural resources will become more and more important in the decades to come when natural resources will become scarcer and the impacts of climate change will be felt globally.“Society and the economy are changing globally as well as locally. Developing towards a sustainable economy – the change from an economy based on fossil fuels towards a bio economy – is inevitable.”
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BOKU’s competences in research and teaching are essential to make this conversion possible.Teaching state of the art content and educating about current issues using modern didactic methods is as important as the practical relevance these courses have. Students are enabled to understand complex interdisciplinary relationships and therefore can better face the demands of the future. “Students at BOKU are mostly full of curiosity, live in close touch with nature and are very committed,”says Gerzabek. Whoever wants to study at the Universität für Bodenkultur should have certain attributes: “Besides having a good school education, students should be persistent and be interested in natural sciences and technology
as well as in social sciences and economics. Being interested in interdisciplinary issues is important.” The BOKU has an international focus as well. Today about 20 per cent of their students come from foreign countries and 11 of the total 26 master courses are held in English. Above that the university offers internationally oriented PhD programmes. Studying at one of the partner universities all over the world is part of the BOKU curriculum. In a national ranking BOKU gained second place with Austrian students when it comes to the question how satisfied they are with their studies. Internationally the university has a good standing: In the Green University Ranking for example BOKU obtained 27th place. www.boku.ac.at
Dr. nat. techn. Dr. h. c. mult. Martin Hubert Gerzabek