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Univ.-Prof. Dr. Eberhard Raithelhuber, Privatdozent
| Titel | “The Power of Continuous Challenge: How a Summer School Shapes International, Inclusive, and Innovative Higher Education” |
| Typ | Präsentation |
| Schlagwörter | Moderation |
| Texte | As a young higher education institution, Bertha von Suttner Private University in St. Pölten, the venue of the 2026 AQ Austria Annual Conference, has, since 2022, been using an international short programme as an experimental space to pursue multiple objectives simultaneously. The one-week Summer School “Action Research Summer Camp” (CAMP, for short) is implemented as a globally unique training format in participatory action research, conducted off-campus within a socially progressive community project by and with transnationally mobile Roma in Innsbruck.
While initial expectations after the first implementation were to move into calmer waters and reduce resource intensity, experience has instead led to a clear insight: if universities aim to develop their core missions—research, teaching, and third mission—in innovative and responsive ways to global challenges, they must continuously push and redefine their boundaries. Key steps along this path included the recognition that participants with experience in the Global South are indispensable, as is the growing integration of international university partners and their cooperation with marginalized communities.
In particular, the collaboration with the local community project in Innsbruck hosting the CAMP—rooted in traditions of liberation pedagogy—has highlighted the importance of maximizing diversity across multiple dimensions, including language, age, institutional position, culture, gender identities, class, ethnicity, and (dis)ability. At the same time, the programme illustrates a shift from the academic transmission of knowledge towards a mode of shared living and experiential learning, enabling deep and often life-changing experiences for participants.
However, the example also demonstrates that such progressive approaches continually encounter structural and cultural limits within higher education institutions, including financial, administrative, and organizational constraints. These tensions form a central learning dimension of the project.
The Action Research Summer Camp will take place for the sixth time in June 2026 and has recently been further developed into an ERASMUS+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) in cooperation with universities in Ireland, Poland, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Sweden. Participants represent diverse nationalities and backgrounds, many with biographical ties to or research experience in the Global South.
Within a 20-minute presentation—also enriched by vivid visual impressions from the Tyrolean mountain setting—the case study will address central questions of the conference theme “International Cooperation and Quality in Higher Education”, including which processes have proven effective, how challenges have been addressed, and how international collaboration reshapes institutional identities and understandings of quality. While primarily situated within the thematic axis “Potentials, Synergies and Tensions of International Cooperation”, the contribution also engages with the dimensions of “Transcultural Communication, Values and Trust” as well as “Added Value, Impact and Institutional Identity.”
Further information is available at www.suttneruni.at/camp as well as in the PROFFORMANCE Teaching Excellence Database under the entry “BIP CAMP” (2024):
https://award.profformance.eu/search/readDetail/803
The case study of the International Summer School “Action Research Summer Camp” demonstrates, first, how the social inclusion of marginalized groups can be effectively designed through the systematic integration of international and local collaboration. It provides a practical example of how inclusive internationalization can move beyond strategy into meaningful implementation.
Second, the approach highlights how perspectives from the Global South and decolonial approaches can become central elements of global learning. Institutions can draw on this to diversify curricula, rethink partnerships, and foster more reflexive and epistemically just forms of international engagement.
Third, the case shows how summer schools can function as experimental spaces for innovation. These environments allow institutions to pilot new ideas and systematically transfer insights and outcomes into teaching, internationalization strategies, and broader institutional development. This enables universities to test and scale innovation in a structured yet flexible way.
Fourth, the example offers valuable guidance on designing training formats for progressive leadership within highly diverse groups, ranging from undergraduate students to university leaders (ages 20 to 70). It illustrates how intergenerational and cross-hierarchical learning can strengthen collaborative leadership and institutional transformation.
Fifth, it demonstrates how universities can engage with local communities within international contexts, fostering reciprocal learning processes and enhancing social impact.
Finally, the contribution underscores that meaningful innovation requires a willingness to continuously embrace challenges and push the boundaries of what is thinkable and feasible. From this, key success factors for transformative higher education development can be derived, including openness, reflexivity, and a structured commitment to experimentation.
Overall, the contribution provides transferable principles, practical models, and strategic orientation for institutions seeking to link internationalization, inclusion, and innovation in impactful ways.
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| Vortragende | Raithelhuber Eberhard |
| Titel der Veranstaltung | AQ Austria Annual Conference “International Cooperation and Higher Education Quality”, |
| Veranstalter*innen | AQ Austria |
| Datum, Zeit und Ort | Datum: 2026-09-23 - Zeit: 10:00:00 - 16:30:00 Ort: Sankt Pölten Ortsbeschreibung: Campus St. Pölten |
| URL | https://www.aq.ac.at/en/events/annual_conference_2026.php |
