Drafted by the Rectorate in cooperation with the other governing bodies, the plan provides the basis for upcoming negotiations regarding the 2025-2027 performance agreement.

JKU Rector Stefan Koch explains: "Our enormous range of subject areas and disciplines means we can break new ground and offer a variety of opportunities to pursue future-oriented educational programs and research, particularly as part of our university-wide focus on digital transformation and sustainable development."

Strategic Flagship Projects
The 2025 – 2030 JKU Strategic Development Plan essentially includes several strategic flagship projects geared toward the university's priorities as a whole:

· The Linz Institute for Transformative Change, LIFT_C for short, will serve as a new hub to promote and support interdisciplinary research relating to the bridging topic of "transformation". LIFT_C's goals and mission will be presented during a press conference at the end of February.

· The JKU's Faculty of Medicine will celebrate its 10^th anniversary and the Faculty’s success story is far from over. The "Uni-Med-Impuls 2030" program has created new opportunities in teaching and research, and boosted the number of spots in the program. The goals include supporting cross-faculty and interdisciplinary partnerships, particularly in future-oriented AI and in medicine. This includes, for example, projects that facilitate large amounts of data processing, and supporting personalized medicine, thereby contributing to the future of high-tech medicine.

· Taking advantage of years of expertise and pioneering work in the field of artificial intelligence to create an interdisciplinary competence center in support of university didactics and incorporating AI in education at the JKU.

· In support of a hands-on approach to teacher education studies, plans are in the works to create the first Austrian university school at the JKU as part of the JKU Linz School of Education.

· Building bridges between art and science is set to continue: The ongoing partnership with the University of Applied Arts Vienna will remain active, and, together with the University of Arts Linz, the JKU is planning to launch the “Linz Academy of Design”, focusing on Design Science and Design Thinking.

· As part of a large growth process, the JKU campus will become even more attractive for everyone at the university. Together with the city of Linz, plans are in the works to improve transportation connections and provide better connections between the JKU and the city center, as well as provide better connections between the main JKU campus and the inner-city JKU Medical Campus.

Positioning the JKU as an Attractive Employer
As a university in a competitive job market, the JKU is also planning to focus on employer branding by 2030 and position itself even more strongly than before by presenting itself as an attractive employer, supporting its strongest resource - its employees - and providing opportunities to support work/life balance.

The JKU Goes Europe
The JKU is also looking to become even more international by 2030: The JKU's recent membership to the EC²U alliance - the European Campus of City Universities - represents an important step towards this goal and, in the long term, is expected to result in a higher number of international students and employees.

Stepping up Scholarly Communication
The strategic development plan emphasizes the JKU's "third mission" and just how important science communication is. Rector Koch added: "As a university, our responsibility to society is something we intend to actively pursue in the future. Be it through our common goal of becoming a climate-neutral university by 2030, or by means of various interactive formats - such as the Circus of Knowledge or the JKU medTALK - we intend to demonstrate just what science does and why it is so important to society."

The 2025-2030 JKU Strategic Development Plan is available at: https://www.jku.at/die-jku/ueber-uns/leitbild-strategie/