MCI Alumni Weekend 2014

More than a thousand guests celebrated at the MCI

On June 13 and 14, members and supporters of MCI Alumni & Friends came together to celebrate the end of the 2013/14 academic year.

Full and varied program

This year, too, the MCI Alumni & Friends Club marked the close of an intensive and interesting year of events with its traditional MCI Alumni Weekend, offering an exciting program as the rousing culmination of the academic year.

The event began on the Friday afternoon with words of welcome spoken by Rector Andreas Altmann and a get-together of MCI graduates including the jubilee years, who learnt about and discussed the MCI’s highly promising plans for the new campus, Ph.D study programs, and the new online study program in Business Administration, etc.

Presentation by the CEO of Austrian Railways (ÖBB)

In the following talk given by Christian Kern, CEO of Austrian Railways, the gathering heard that the ÖBB is optimistic about the future and sees further potential for corporate growth in people’s changing mobility habits. According to the speaker, the number of railway users in Austria and their level of satisfaction are higher than ever before, and productivity at Austrian Railways is outstanding at the European level. The CEO is determined to further consolidate the ÖBB’s position in the future and to move up to join the leaders in Europe in terms of profitability, economy and punctuality.

Following the interesting talk given by Christian Kern, the MCI was privileged to welcome another top-level guest, namely Professor Tilmann Märk, Rector of Innsbruck University and Chairman of the Tyrolean University Conference, who spoke about the current situation of the Tyrol as a university location. He explained that the various tertiary education facilities in the Tyrol are not hostile competitors but part of a healthy higher education market on which they complement one another and thus make the university scene more attractive. The decision to pull together in the framework of the Tyrolean University Conference is seen as a source of additional effective cooperation in the fields of teaching and research. It also underlines the importance of the goal of knowledge transfer to society.

Chilling out at the MCI Summer Clubbing

Socializing & Networking was the order of the night: At the MCI Summer Clubbing in the Hofgarten, graduates, students and the MCI team, as well as friends and partners of the MCI gave themselves over to the clubbing sound and a delicious buffet until the early hours.

Zoological end to a successful Alumni Weekend

On Saturday morning, Dr. Michael Martys, Director of Innsbruck’s Alpine Zoo, provided interesting insights into behavioral research in the animal world. The speaker explained that animals live in a space-time system based on incentives and enticements. Even though human beings are zoological creatures, he said, they cannot be treated on a level with animals; human thought and action are shaped by processes of socialization and decision-making and involve a greater degree of responsibility. Even though Dr. Marty refused to equate human beings with animals, he was able to draw fascinating parallels between human and animal behavior.
Dr. Marty’s presentation brought to a close a wonderful weekend under the motto “Meet & celebrate with motivated people”.

Alumni-Weekend-Einladung-2014.pdf