Successful female students as role models: UAS Technikum Wien presented the WeCanTech Award for the first time

With the WeCanTech Award, the UAS Technikum Wien honors outstanding female students and puts them in the spotlight as role models. With this initiative, the university of applied sciences wants to show that women are actively and successfully studying in different technical fields and how they can start their career with a technical education. This should help to further increase the number of female students and to position technology even more strongly as an attractive education. The UAS Technikum Wien has been committed to this for years and has already reached an important milestone in the current academic year: since the winter semester 2021/22, more than 1000 female students have been enrolled at the Technikum for the first time.

The WeCanTech Award, which was presented for the first time this year, was announced for female students of all bachelor’s and master’s degree programs at UAS Technikum Wien. The award winners were honored on February 3, in the run-up to the “International Day of Women and Girls in Science” (February 11), which was proclaimed by UNESCO. The awards were presented by Managing Director Gabriele Költringer and Rector Sylvia Geyer. The award-winning female students each received 1000 euros in prize money and a certificate. Sara Grasl, editor-in-chief of the start-up medium “Der Brutkasten”, moderated the event, which was held on a small scale for Corona reasons and transmitted online via video stream. The guest speaker was virologist Dorothee von Laer (Medical University of Innsbruck), who reported from her field of expertise in her keynote speech entitled “From wave to wave: the evolution of viruses”.

Award for outstanding student achievements

During the event, two bachelor’s and two master’s students each received an award for outstanding performance in their studies. The prerequisite was a grade point average of less than 1.3 in the previous academic year. The award winners clearly undercut this value and achieved an impressive grade point average of between 1.0 and 1.15. “With these great achievements and their commitment to their studies, our award-winning female students are setting a real example. I wish all the award winners continued success in the future – whether in further education or in their careers – and congratulate them warmly on this award,” said Rector Sylvia Geyer.

The winners in this category were Charlotte Veser (Bachelor Biomedical Engineering), Anna Matt (Bachelor Information and Communication Systems and Services), Anja Buchberger (Master Healthcare and Rehabilitation Technology) and Irene Holec (Master Game Engineering and Simulation Technology/ AI Engineering).

Compatibility of studies and family

In the second category, the awards focused on the compatibility of child(ren) and studies. “In our society, the main burden of raising children is borne primarily by women, who therefore often take a back seat in their careers or on their educational path. With the WeCanTech Award, we honor female students who manage the challenges between family responsibilities and studies in an impressive way,” said Managing Director Gabriele Költringer. An award in this category went to Berenice Muzquiz and Inés Schaberreiter (both Bachelor Smart Homes and Assistive Technologies), Sylvie Pfeiffer (Bachelor Business Informatics), Sabrina Pfeiffer (Master Integrative Urban Development – Smart City), Andrea Hofer (Master Power Electronics) and Alice Grano (Master International Business and Engineering). The latter is the mother of two young daughters (three years and ten months), graduated with a bachelor’s degree two years ago and is currently active in the third semester of her master’s degree: “It is important to me to be a role model for my children – both girls – and many other students, so that they can learn for the future that studying and a career by no means exclude a family and vice versa,” says the award winner.

Mentoring Program

In addition to the awards, a mentoring program is also part of the WeCanTech initiative at UAS Technikum Wien. This was announced for female master’s students in their final year of study. Twelve selected participants receive individual mentoring from suitable mentors. The first meeting of mentees and mentors took place in mid-January. In the coming months, the participants will continue to work in individual meetings, and a joint final meeting is planned at the end of the semester.

Printable photos of the event can be found on the Technikum Cloud.