In 2019, the Free State of Bavaria launched the “Hightech Agenda Bayern” (Bavarian High-Tech Agenda, HTA) initiative to boost science innovation across Bavaria. The University of Passau has benefited greatly from the HTA through the creation of new professorships, the construction of the new Passau International Centre for Scholarship and Science on the Spitzberg site, and its inclusion in the “Medizincampus Niederbayern” (Lower-Bavarian Medical Campus).
The University strategically uses these newly established professorial positions to flesh out existing focal points within the faculties and bolster up-and-coming areas of interdisciplinary convergence in research and teaching. Specifically, the University is strengthening its profile in the areas of digitalisation and AI research while creating new study places in computer science. In doing so, it builds on the successes of the Technik Plus development programme, which in many ways served as a precursor to the present HTA initiative.
Thus far, the Bavarian High-Tech Agenda has led to the creation of the following chairs and professorships at the University of Passau:
With a gross floor area of nearly 17,000 square metres and a net internal area of over 9,000 square metres, the new International Centre for Scholarship and Science is the University’s largest building expansion project since its founding in 1978. This new building will make the evolution and enhancement of the University’s profile in forward-looking fields such as AI, data sciences and networked society visible on an architectural level. The groundbreaking ceremony on 8 May marked the official start of construction work for the International Centre for Scholarship and Science on Passau’s “Spitzberg”. On 1 June, the University’s Media Relations section launched an online construction diary.
As part of the Lower-Bavarian Medical Campus, a new medical degree programme will be established under the leadership of the University of Regensburg in cooperation with the University of Passau and a number of Lower-Bavarian hospitals. The University of Passau will contribute to the curricular training of medical students and be responsible for the provision of digital medical teaching content, which is particularly important, as students are distributed across different locations throughout the wider region. The University’s new profile-enhancing professorships will bolster the research profile of the Lower-Bavarian Medical Campus and place a strong focus on linking digitalisation and medicine.
The first intake of students into the Lower-Bavarian medical degree programme is expected for winter semester 2024–25. These students will be taught at the University of Passau from winter semester 2027–28 onwards.
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