The story
With the Protestant collegium sapientiae et pietatis founded in 1552, Klagenfurt hosted one of the oldest gymnasiums in Austria (today's Europagymnasium), directed by Hieronymus Megiser from 1593 to 1601, but had no ancient university tradition.
In 1970, the Austrian parliament passed a federal law allowing the establishment of an Educational Science College in Klagenfurt. The first doctoral degree was conferred in 1972. In 1975, new laws on higher education came into force, with the name of the college being changed into Universität für Bildungswissenschaften (University of Educational Sciences).
In 1993, a fundamental relaunch took place: The institution's name was changed to Universität Klagenfurt (University of Klagenfurt), and a Faculty of Humanities and a (new) Faculty of Economics, Business Administration, and Informatics were inaugurated. The Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies was inaugurated in 2004.
The university adopted the official cognomen Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt in 2004 (with its legal name still being Universität Klagenfurt). It was extended with a fourth, technical sciences faculty in 2007 (with a focus on Informatics, Information Technology, and Networked & Autonomous Systems), engaging in research operations in collaboration with the Lakeside Science & Technology Park. In 2012, the number of students passed the 10,000 mark.
On occasion of the institution's 40th anniversary, a Boat Race was held on Lake Wörth in 2010. Klagenfurt's Eight won against the University of Vienna by a boat length on a sprinting distance from the rowing clubs to Maria Loretto castle.
In 2015, the university established commencement speeches at its graduation ceremonies. Among the speakers so far are Sabine Herlitschka, Josef Winkler, August-Wilhelm Scheer, Johanna Rachinger, Josef Aschbacher, Judith Kohlenberger, and Christoph Grabenwarter. Presidents of Austria Heinz Fischer (formerly) and Alexander Van der Bellen (incumbent) are recurrent guests at doctoral graduations sub auspiciis Praesidentis.
In 2020, the university celebrated its institutional 50 year jubilee. This included a lecture series together with the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Utopia! Is the world out of joint? Contributions to the art of Enlightenment opened by Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger and the bestowal of an honorary doctorate to Rae Langton. Several further jubilee events were virtualized or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 22 November 2020 the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation showed the TV documentary Humans in the Digital Age: University of Klagenfurt—50th Anniversary.
The jubilee exhibition ARTEFICIA was postponed to autumn 2021. It shows unique exhibits from honorary doctors Manfred Bockelmann, Michael Guttenbrunner, Maja Haderlap, Peter Handke, Maria Lassnig, Valentin Oman, Wolfgang Puschnig, Peter Turrini, and Josef Winkler.
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Technological developments of the University of Klagenfurt—leading contributions to the navigation system of the robotic helicopter Ingenuity—are part of NASAs Mars 2020 mission (Mars landing on 18 February 2021, maiden flight of the helicopter on 19 April 2021).
From Wikipedia’s article on University of Klagenfurt, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4