Fit Information Days 2026 Inspire Schoolgirls to Pursue Stem Careers

Every year at the end of January, the UAS Technikum Wien is delighted to welcome a ballroom full of schoolgirls to the FIT Information Days. The Fit Sprungbrett Wien association brought together around 200 upper school students for workshops and study information on technical and scientific careers. The UAS Technikum Wien has been the proud host of the opening program on the first day for many years.

The FIT Info Days 2026 took place from January 28 to 29, 2026, and included the study orientation fair at the UAS Technikum Wien and many workshops held at 20 universities and companies in Vienna and the surrounding area. Schoolgirls from Vienna, Lower Austria, and Burgenland focused on their own futures and learned about various universities, fields of study, and career fields in the STEM sector.

A long road to technology

At the kick-off event at Technikum, Judith Klamert-Schmid, Head of the Department of Industrial Engineering at the UAS Technikum Wien, presented her own career path: high school diploma from a school for business professions, flight attendant, assistant, project manager for space technology, research assistant at FHWien der WKW, then division manager, program director, the move to Technikum as program director for International Industrial Engineering, and now department head “with around 100 employees who live and breathe research and inspire students.” Her encouraging message to girls: “Technology is everywhere. You can influence tomorrow, industry, society, and make targeted use of the knowledge you gain.”

Women in male-dominated fields

Alongside Klamert-Schmidt, many other impressive role models took to the stage, including Esma Atak, a civil engineer at Strabag who manages 100 men on the construction site. Or Gudrun Weisz, senior lecturer/researcher at the Technikum with a focus on mathematics. Before holding a workshop on “M&Ms, Maps & AI: The Power of Causality,” she gave the students a message: “Always do what interests you. Opportunities always come along at some point in life.”