Call for Contributions 2026

To the Call for Contributions AQ Austria Annual Conference 2026

AQ Austria invites representatives of higher education institutions, alliances, and joint programme consortia, as well as quality assurance agencies, ministries, and particularly students from Austria and abroad to share experiences and ideas for shaping the future of international collaboration and its framework conditions. We explicitly encourage practice-oriented contributions that not only highlight good practice but also critically discuss “best failures” from an international perspective.

Key questions include:

Which processes have proven effective, what barriers have you overcome, and how has international networking influenced your institution’s self-concept and understanding of quality?

Please select one of the following focus areas for your submission:

  • Potentials, Synergies and Tensions in International Cooperation
    • What conclusions do Austrian higher education institutions and their partners draw from past collaborations — both in terms of good practices and “best failures”?
    • What is the strategic significance of international collaboration?
    • Which obstacles have been tackled in implementing transnational cooperation, and where do its limits lie (e.g. regarding partner selection, or regulatory and administrative frameworks)?
  • Transcultural Communication, Values and Trust
    • What role do cultural dimensions, fundamental values (such as academic freedom), or diversity play in international collaboration?
    • How can abstract cooperation values be translated into a shared everyday culture among partners?
    • How can we learn from challenging partnerships and build sustainable trust in global networks?
  • Added Value, Impact and Institutional Identity
    • What does an international orientation mean for a university’s identity and profile?
    • To what extent have Austrian institutions already positioned themselves as “European Universities”?
    • What concrete benefits do collaborations bring for institutions, staff, and students?
    • How do partnerships contribute to the further development of teaching and research, and how can their sustainability be ensured?
  • Quality Assurance as an Enabler of Transformation
    • How can international cooperation be strategically used for quality enhancement?
    • How do internal and external quality assurance processes evolve in an increasingly transnational European and global higher education area?
    • How much standardisation is beneficial in collaboration, and how much autonomy is needed by individual actors? How do they handle the resulting responsibilities?

Please submit the title and abstract of your contribution by 15 May 2026 via the following link:

Call for Contributions AQ Austria Annual Conference 2026

 

Contribution Formats

You may submit your proposal for one of the following formats:

  • Short presentation (15–20 min): Focused contributions, e.g. case studies, lessons learned, or fail-forward slams presenting “best failures.” These formats aim to critically examine specific examples of cooperation or propose discursive solutions to identified challenges.
  • Interactive workshop (60 min): In-depth sessions for jointly exploring specific topics or approaches. The objective is to engage participants actively in developing concrete examples and to foster smart networking, i.e. purposeful mutual support among participants.
  • Open formats (flexible): We welcome your ideas for world cafés, fishbowl discussions, future labs, solution rooms, or other customised formats.

Submissions in English are particularly welcome, as are contributions developed jointly by several institutions. We especially encourage submissions from students and teaching staff, representatives of alliances, joint programme consortia, transnational networks, and international quality assurance agencies.

Selected conference contributions may be published in an open-access conference volume edited by AQ Austria shortly after the event. Information on previous conference publications can be found here.

Please note: For active contributors to the programme, AQ Austria will cover necessary accommodation costs and provide a travel allowance.

We sincerely thank you for your engagement and look forward to your contributions!