UNIVERSITY ON THE MOVE – Steps towards a sustainable future
Higher education in Salzburg takes steps toward a sustainable future: On Thursday, 13 November 2025, members of five Salzburg universities and colleges set off on foot from their respective institutions and made their way to the Frohnburg, symbolically taking steps toward sustainable development. Once assembled at their destination, the five delegations formed a heterogeneous group united in a common cause: rectorate members, students, teaching staff, researchers, administrative staff and sustainability officers—around 50 people in all. Members of the Mozarteum University’s sustainability task force walked side by side with lecturers and students from the Institute for Open Arts.
The exact starting points at the respective institutions and the routes taken were chosen individually, with Frohnburg in Hellbrunner Allee as the common destination. ‘MOVE’ was the motto of the action day, which took various forms:
- Walkshop – Reflection on our scope for sustainable university development as we walked towards the Frohnburg. Walking and exchanging ideas in a group opened up an individual and collective space for experience.
- A call to movement – taking alternative routes, making new discoveries off the beaten track and embracing the unfamiliar. Anna Wirth and Jeren Baynazarova, students at the ORFF Institute, welcomed guests in glorious autumn weather and invited them in join them in a shared movement session in the Frohnburg park.
- Bringing movement to the Salzburg higher education landscape. The joint workshop was dedicated to the theme of ‘Higher Education on the Move’. Participants explored where action is needed, particularly from an ecological and social perspective, and where opportunities for concrete implementation measures are becoming apparent.
It was only possible to touch upon the challenges, opportunities and new perspectives of sustainable action in the university's fields of activity. The scope for action is considerable, and if a genuine transformation towards a sustainable university is to take place, commitment from top management, clear and motivating communication both internally and externally, and the involvement of all stakeholder groups are all essential.
Did we manage to initiate a movement? Yes, we have set the ball is rolling. Was there evidence of motivation and willingness to act? There certainly was. Were we able to agree on the initiation of internal implementation projects such as joint collaborations? We were indeed. Will similar formats follow? Absolutely.
The organising team would like to express its sincere thanks to all contributors and participants from Salzburg Teacher Training College, Paracelsus Medical University, Paris Lodron University, the University of Applied Sciences and the Mozarteum University – all in Salzburg – as well as external support from Eva-Maria Holzinger (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna) and Franziska Allerberger (University of Innsbruck) for getting us off to a fantastic start.