Fem In Tech@Montanuni
As part of its diversity strategy, the University of Leoben is continuously implementing measures to increase the proportion of women among its students:
Particular attention is paid to a gender-balanced composition of the team, both at the information days and when putting together the advisory team for university information fairs, school visits, etc., in order to bring girls into personal contact with female role models. When selecting photos for information material or for reports about Montanuniversität and the degree programmes offered in Leoben (in print and online), care is also taken to regularly show both male and, in particular, female role models. In addition, prospective students can get advice specifically on the topic of ‘Women in Engineering’ as part of the online counselling 4.0.
Link to the student advisory services
In May, the university community celebrates the EU Diversity Month together. At the end of 2022, the ‘Diversity@MUL’ programme was awarded a prize by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research as part of the Diversitas Diversity Management Prize. The activities of ‘Diversity@MUL’ range from workshops and lectures to a movie night.
Link to further information on the diversity programme
The teaching and learning laboratory, which covers approx. 150 square metres on the third floor of the main building of the Montanuniversität, is used to hold experimental workshops for primary school classes that are didactically tailored to the age groups and developed in a gender-, diversity- and language-sensitive way. The ‘Children's Laboratory’ is run as a long-term cooperation project between the Montanuniversität Leoben and the Private University College of Teacher Education Augustinum (PPH Augustinum, formerly KPH Graz) in specially adapted premises. Currently, workshop modules are available on the topics of ‘salts’, ‘plastics’ and ‘metals’, and from the academic year 2023/24, ‘energy’ and ‘graphite’ will also be added. Each workshop is organised as a station-based activity and takes about two hours. The students conduct their own research throughout, supported by a team of students from the Montanuniversität and PPH Augustinum. Extensive accompanying material is provided for each topic, which can also be used to continue the work in school lessons. The offer is free of charge for school classes.
Link to the teaching-learning laboratory
As part of the project funded by the Federal Chancellery and led by the Foreign Institute to promote female pupils and students ‘Girls Only’ (call for funding ‘Empowerment of Girls and Women in Education, Profession and Society with a Focus on Mathematics, Computer Science, Natural Sciences and Technology as well as Financial Competence’; project coordinator: JKU Linz) was offered a mentoring programme for women at the Montanuniversität in the winter semester 2022/23. Successful women from science and business were available as mentors. The project implementation started with a needs assessment, which was carried out in the first half of 2022 among female pupils and students by means of an anonymous survey. Based on the results, a workshop on ‘self-assertion’ for female students was held in Leoben on 14 October 2022. Another workshop on the topic of ‘Career entry and career paths’ followed on 3 November 2022. The programme was rounded off with a networking event at the University of Leoben on 5 December 2022, to which, among others, head teachers were invited.