Die Fakultät führte zunächst eine Selbstevaluierung durch, gefolgt von einer Bewertung der Forschungsleistung und wichtiger Evaluierungsthemen durch internationale Gutachter*innen. Aufgrund der Corona-Pandemie musste der übliche Vor-Ort-Besuch durch Online-Evaluierungsgespräch mit dem Rektorat und den Fakultätsangehörigen ersetzt werden. Die fünfköpfige Gutachter*innengruppe unter dem Vorsitz von Professorin Mieke Van Herreweghe, Vizerektorin der Universität Gent, fasste ihre Bewertung wie folgt zusammen:
„The faculty is a large one with 14 departments and 81 full professor chairs. It is a very heterogeneous faculty but at the same time that is its success story. One third of the professors have been employed in this evaluation period and a good many of them are internationals. The internationals were attracted by the faculty’s reputation of excellence and the possibilities with respect to cooperation. The panel acknowledges the fact that more international faculty is being recruited at the faculty through the system of tenure-track positions and we really applaud this development.
The faculty is very successful in international rankings, also thanks to its research performance. The faculty has determined a number of strategic choices such as investment in digital humanities and mediality, including an impressive MediaLab. The faculty continues to pursue excellence but at the same time it has opted for a very broad range of subjects. Strategically the faculty wants to continue in this direction and the panel supports those choices although it would encourage the faculty to think about slightly diminishing the range of subjects. Nevertheless, we do appreciate that the faculty offers a number of small but excellent unique programmes.
The Faculty’s research impact is impressive, with major visibility in a number of areas for current affairs (East Asia, Music), an enviable array of science to public activities (“Sparkling Science”, “University Meets Public”, “A Long Night of Research”, “Vienna Children’s University) and faculty-organised public lectures, as well as cooperation with industrial partners.
While the diverse structure of disciplines in the faculty makes it necessary to base the discipline-based training in the departments, a doctoral school could serve as an umbrella to not only offer courses relevant for all doctoral students in the faculty, for example in research methods, good academic practice, or transferrable skills, but to also provide a framework for a structured doctoral training programme. A doctoral school could ensure quality control, monitor the progress of doctoral students and provide funding to support doctoral students in fieldwork or conference travel. Moreover, by creating a doctoral school as an umbrella for graduate education in the faculty, the interdisciplinary exchange among doctoral students and participating faculty members could provide valuable insights and new perspectives on doctoral research. Such a doctoral school should be open for all doctoral students at the faculty, independent of their funding or employment at the university.“
Die Gutachten zu den Instituten sowie der Evaluationsbericht zur Fakultät insgesamt enthalten eine Reihe von Empfehlungen für weitere Verbesserungen u.a. in den Bereichen Forschungsstrategie, Personalstrukturplanung, Digitalisierung, in Studium und Lehre sowie der administrativen Unterstützung von Wissenschafter*innen und Studierenden.
Die Evaluationsergebnisse wurden fakultätsintern erörtert und abgeleitete Maßnahmen sind in der Umsetzungsvereinbarung zwischen Rektorat und Fakultät festgehalten. Die Umsetzung erfolgt u.a. im Zuge der kommenden Entwicklungsplanung, Berufungen, Tenure Track-Verfahren, Curricularentwicklung, Sichtung von Mobilitätsabkommen, Maßnahmen in Studium und Lehre sowie über die Zielvereinbarungen. Das Umsetzungsmonitoring ist Teil des Zielvereinbarungsprozesses.
Peer Report und Stellungnahme der Fakultät stehen für Universitätsangehörige unter https://www.qs.univie.ac.at/evaluationen/fakultaeten-zentren/evaluationsberichte/ zur Verfügung.
