For over 40 years, the Johannes Kepler University Linz and the FernUniversität in Hagen have stood together in support of a future-oriented range of courses. The Centre for Distance Studies recently relocated to a new location in Vienna, the Otto Wagner Postal Savings Building in Vienna's 1st district. The building is now home to institutions that support art and science. Prospective students interested in distance studies can come here and learn more about distance learning and - together with other renowned scientific institutions - this has become a location that supports transdisciplinary collaboration.

The Centre for Distance Studies Vienna (ZF Vienna) offers options to earn a distance learning degree awarded by the JKU Linz or a degree offered by the FernUniversität in Hagen. The JKU's distance studies programs include the Bachelor's and Master's degree programs in Artificial Intelligence as well as the Multimedia Diploma degree program in Law. Students enrolled at the FernUniversität can choose from 10 Bachelor's degree programs and 16 Master's degree programs ranging from mathematics, computer science and law to economics, psychology and cultural studies. In total, the JKU Centre for Distance Studies Vienna supports over 2,000 students each semester as they pursue their academic degree.

Mag. Pia Olisar, head of the JKU Centre for Distance Studies in Vienna, commented on the Centre’s anniversary: "Nowadays, a number of people want to pursue a second educational path or study on a part-time basis. Distance studies is a perfect option. As technology and digitalization advance and ‘new work’ is becoming more acceptable, the timing is just right. Many people are beginning to realize the advantages of digital education and there is a higher level of acceptance. Here at the Centre for Distance Studies in Vienna we consider it our core responsibility to open up individual and diverse paths to pursue a university education that could lead to a better career. I believe that in the future we will continue to attract many prospective students as we offer an innovative range of courses."

Anniversary celebrations were held yesterday at the Otto Wagner Postal Savings building and numerous well-wishers come together to celebrate, including Rectorate representatives from the JKU Linz and FernUniversität Hagen, along with representatives from local government, the local business community, various educational institutions, neighboring universities, and many alumni and pioneers from the early days.

Univ. Prof. Mag. Dr. Stefan Koch, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs at the Johannes Kepler University Linz, extended his congratulations: "I would like to thank the Centre for Distance Studies team in Vienna under the leadership of Mag. Pia Olisar for their outstanding work as well as congratulate them most sincerely on their anniversary. The team provides support services to over 2,000 students per semester as these individuals pursue an academic degree. I hope that together with our partners, first and foremost the FernUniversität in Hagen, but also all of the other regional and national partners in the government, in the business community, and in education, we can continue on this path and contribute significantly to the advancement of society."

Professor Dr. Ada Pellert, Rector of the FernUniversität in Hagen, was among the well-wishers and she paid tribute to several alumni on the occasion: "I would like to congratulate the Centre for Distance Studies on its new location in one of the most beautiful buildings in my former hometown of Vienna. To the over 2,300 students at the FernUniversität in Hagen who complete their studies in Austria, the study centres serve as important places to attend classroom events and meet fellow students, especially in the center in Vienna in a now very prestigious location. I am particularly pleased that we are celebrating past alumni as well because successful students are even more important for a university than beautiful buildings."

The JKU's New Homebase in Vienna
The Otto Wagner Postal Savings building in Vienna has served as a new location of interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary collaboration since the fall of 2022. Together, the Applied Sciences, the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research in Graz on the Consequences of War, the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the Austrian Science Fund, and the JKU in cooperation with FernUniversität, constitute an impressive cluster of knowledge.

Along with the ZF Vienna, the JKU has relocated research team members in the areas of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (Wittgenstein Award winner Gerhard Widmer and Günter Klambauer) to Vienna, especially as the ZF Vienna offers the option to earn an undergraduate or graduate degree in "Artificial Intelligence" via distance studies. In this way, the JKU supports this promising new field by bringing research and teaching together in one location. JKU Vice-Rector Stefan Koch remarked: "The JKU's new home base in Vienna provides excellent prerequisites, both in terms of research studies and higher-level education. Different university institutions working together creates an inspiring environment and great potential to support cross-disciplinary collaboration." Pia Olisar added, "A place to share ideas and come together is important, especially to support distance studies. Our new location is an ideal setting. In line with upcoming transformation processes, our students are given plenty of space to engage in innovative teaching and research. Our classrooms and study rooms contain state-of-the-art media technology, and we also offer common areas, academic advising services, and administrative services."

The Otto Wagner Postal Savings building will also be home to the new academic degree program "Transformation Studies. Art x Science" offered in cooperation with the University of Applied Arts Vienna.

Milestones Over the Past 40 Years at the Centre for Distance Studies in Vienna

• January 30, 1982: Grand opening of the "Vienna Study Center" at Strozzigasse 2 in Vienna's 8th district as a remote office of the Intra-University Research Institute for Distance Studies in Klagenfurt
• 1991: The Center for Distance Learning is opened at the JKU and ZF Vienna is part of the JKU; cooperation between the JKU and FernUniversität in Hagen begins.
• 1995: For the first time, over 250 new FernUniversität students enrolled in one semester at the Centre for Distance Studies Vienna
• 2008: The FernUniversität in Hagen launches the psychology degree program. To date, students can enroll to study psychology without being subject to a selection procedure
• 2016: ZF Vienna serves as an examination venue for students enrolled in the JKU’s Multimedia Diploma degree program in Law
• 2019: Start of the JKU’s new undergraduate and graduate degree program “Artificial Intelligence” at the Centre for Distance Studies in Vienna (introduced on campus simultaneously, there by “free of time and location constraints”)
• 2020: The cooperation agreement between the JKU and the FernUniversität in Hagen is renewed.
• October/November 2022: Relocation to the new offices at the Otto Wagner Postal Saving Bank building along with the JKU institutes of Machine Learning und Computational Perception
• 2023: The new location at the Postal Savings Bank building is fully operational and features four classrooms equipped with state-of-the-art media technology.