Bachelor’s degree program is the interface between
energy technology, technical building systems, and
plant construction. Within the 4th or 5th semester of
the program, three specialization tracks Building
Energy Design, Large-Scale Plants and Integrated
Energy Technologies are already offered. Starting in
2015, a new Smart Cities specialization track has
been introduced.
The specialization starts in the 4th semester with
such topics as integrated design of urban
technological energy projects (energy, buildings,
networks), design options (architecture in urban
areas) and the user behaviour (diversity). The
specialization of the 5th semester provides more
complex insight into technological concepts,
geographical aspects area and regional, urban
administrative frameworks. The course is designed
as hands on project work with the main goal to
introduce an integrated planning process for a small
smart city projects, for instance a building
refurbishment in urban areas. The project
implementation involves usage of specific
simulation software. The project gains additional
benefits through the integration of interdisciplinary
teams. This course rated with 15 ECTS points for
both semesters (6 ECTS in 4th and 9 ECTS in 5th
semester).
3.3 Development of a Smart Cities
Master Program
The main step planned for smart cities dissemination
at the UAS Technikum is the elaboration of an
inherent smart cities Master’s degree program. Prior
to development of the explicit curriculum, a
feasibility study for education demand and skills
analysis has been performed. The demand analysis
considers future employment prospects of the
graduates based on relevant studies and secondary
statistical data analysis. Additionally, the study
includes interviews with fifteen experts from the
smart cities relevant companies and organizations.
Furthermore, the acceptance analysis evaluated
several study programs with certain degree of
coherence to the planned Master’s degree program,
to estimate the number of future potential applicants.
The planned curriculum for the new program is
strongly compliant with the general educational
strategy of the UAS Technikum Wien, which is
divided into three main areas of expertise: technical,
economic and social skills education.
The technical skills within the new Master
curriculum are subdivided, on one hand into
introductory compensation modules for students
with few to no smart cities background and on the
other hand mandatory or selectable smart cities
specific skills. To improve the interdisciplinary
approach, the master program offers student the
possibility to deepen their knowledge in hands-on
project work. The economic and social skills courses
are supporting the implementation, innovation with
national and international trends and business
models.
The general curriculum is built up as follows, see
table 2.
Table 2: Master’s degree program curriculum.
Areas of expertise ECTS
Smart Cities related project work 12
Scientific Methodology and Tools 36
Smart Cities Domain Basics (introductory
courses)
6
Smart Cities Core Competences 48
Socio-technical Skills 12
Economic, Management and Legal
Foundations
6
Since the main goal of the master study program
is to diversify student groups, it is important to
guarantee equal chances for students with various
backgrounds by providing introductory courses in
the main topics of smart cities. The smart cities
domain basics include the core areas, such as
transportation planning, urban energy supply, IT
networks, and data management fundamentals.
The mandatory courses such as urban mobility,
smart cities frameworks, urban renewable energy
systems, urban planning, data analysis, statistics, and
business models, provide a very broad and
interconnected insight into smart cities specific
domains and introduce necessary tools for future
smart cities specialists as decision makers.
Apart from the mandatory courses, students get
the possibility to choose one specific elective track
each semester. Currently, selectable topics cover
extensive areas of smart cities, see table 3, to be
extended for future needs.
Table 3: Selectable tracks in Master’s degree program.
Selectable Track Contents
Urban Housing Densification in urban areas,
energy-based renovation
Trends in urban
energy supply
Technological trends in the energy
supply of modern cities
Physical
Measurement-
Methods
Measurement technology of
physical smart cities
characteristics
Embedded
Systems
Internet of things, sensor data