Austria’s Ars Docendi State Prize for Excellent Teaching Shortlists CEU Professors Andrea Krizsan and Mathias Moschel
During a September 10 ceremony at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, the Austrian Ministry for Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) announced the 2024 Ars Docendi State Prize for excellent teaching, which shortlisted two CEU professors as honorees in the category of social and sustainability-oriented teaching.
The honorees, Andrea Krizsan, Professor in the Department of Public Policy and Department of Gender Studies, and Mathias Moschel, Professor in the Department of Legal Studies, were presented with a certificate during the ceremony in recognition of their interdisciplinary master’s level course: “The Law and Politics of Combating Gender Based Violence”.
The Ars Docendi State Prize has been awarded annually for excellent teaching since 2013 to committed teachers at Austria's public universities, universities of applied sciences, university colleges of teacher education and private universities. An international jury of experts in the field of teaching and teaching development assessed the numerous nominations.
“This award means a lot because teaching is probably the most significant way that we as professors can shape future generations,” said Moschel. “Moreover, winning this together with a dear colleague, makes it even more meaningful as it highlights the collaborative and interdisciplinary work done at CEU.”
The course, jointly run by CEU’s Department of Public Policy and the Department of Legal Studies, provides an interdisciplinary examination of the law and politics of combating gender-based violence. It frames such violence as a political, policy and international human rights issue, which also must be combatted with that understanding. The course aims to enhance student understanding of the fundamental inequality, discrimination, social justice and democracy issues that are behind gender-based violence globally, and the best ways to intervene. This includes examining policy definitions of gender-based violence, existing legal and policy conventions, as well as the role of civil society and social movements in combating such violence.
“The success and appeal of the course to students shows the increasing importance and recognition of gender-based violence as a global injustice issue,” said Krizsan. “Preparing next generations of public policy, legal and gender studies professionals for understanding and tackling it fits neatly within the mission of the CEU, the research and teaching agenda of its faculty.” She added: “While teaching the ever-increasing number of interested students is an honor for us, we should never forget that their interest is also an indication of the salience of gender-based violence as a global social and political problem.”
The course employs teaching methods including in-depth class discussions, presentations on select cases and exchange with an expert in the field active in combating gender-based violence. As a result of exploring practices from around the world, the course serves as a platform for students to move into work in the field at civil society organizations, international organizations, national governments and judiciary roles.
The category of social and sustainability-oriented teaching for the Ars Docendi State Prize was evaluated on the following aspects: transformative forms of teaching and learning to strengthen creative and critical thinking, dialogue, teamwork and future sustainable action; service learning; strengthening communication of scientific methods and findings; and transdisciplinary teaching and learning settings in which different subjects and practice partners work together.
Other categories awarded in the Ars Docendi State Prize included learning outcome-oriented examination and teaching culture; cooperative forms of teaching and working; research-based or arts-led teaching, and improving the quality of teaching.