The netPOL network

Political communication includes policy-making and education in the information society, with particular emphasis on the relationship between politics and the media and the use of new information and communication technologies, elections and other forms of political participation as a central element of democracy, and the representation of public concerns and interests in policy processes.

The declared goal of netPOL is to strengthen and expand the teaching and research area of ​​political communication through the cooperation between the partners and partner universities and to put it into the focus of a broader and international group of interested parties. The main topics of the network activities are European political education, election and political participation research, public affairs and lobbying, media research, mass media economic communication as well as strategy and network analyzes. These topics meet with broad public interest and are of great importance, both from the partner countries and the EU.

The countries Austria, Hungary and Germany are regarded as supporting pillars of netPOL, and in their cooperation with predominantly German-speaking partner universities cover different areas of expertise and expertise. For example, the Danube University Krems is a pioneer and specialist in postgraduate continuing education, and as the largest partner university of the network, the Karl Franzens University Graz has particularly many interdisciplinary collaborations in Central and Eastern Europe. The Andrássy University of Budapest forms an interface between the ZOE countries and the Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen is characterized by its interdisciplinary nature.

The reciprocal additions of the partner universities are a key to success; in addition, collaborations with scientific and educational institutions are sought as external partners throughout Europe. The initiator of and responsible for netPOL is the Province of Lower Austria, represented by the Gesellschaft für Forschungsförderung Lower Austria m.b.H (GFF), other sponsors include u.a. the country Styria. NetPOL is coordinated by the Institute for Strategy Analysis (ISA), and the secondment of scientists is carried out by the Karl Franzens University Graz.

The Andrássy Gyula German-speaking University of Budapest was founded in 2002 as a multinational joint project of the Republic of Hungary, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Austria, Switzerland, the Free State of Bavaria and the State of Baden-Württemberg, and since then has accompanied the European enlargement process. According to the wishes of its founders, Andrássy University Budapest is a European lighthouse project and meeting place for German-speaking people, as well as a Hungarian and international university. As a university with a European focus in research and teaching, it deals with European issues, in particular from a political science perspective.

The Faculty of International Relations unites the disciplines of Political and Economic Sciences and, as part of the Chair of Political Science, focuses on Comparative Politics, in particular in the area of ​​comparative analysis of the political systems of Eastern and Central Eastern Europe.

The Zeppelin University (ZU) is a state-recognized since 2003 by the state of Baden-Württemberg and accredited by the Science Council endowment university. As a "University between Business, Culture and Politics" it teaches and researches - with currently 1.184 students, 52 professors and nearly 285 employees - consistently interdisciplinary, individualized and international.

She has received several awards: among others in 2011 with the federal victory in the funding program "More than Research and Teaching! Universities in Society" by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft and the Stiftung Mercator for their special social commitment. In the relevant rankings she has been in the lead group since the beginning.

The Karl-Franzens-University Graz, founded in 1585, is Austria's second oldest university and with about 30,000 students one of the largest in the country. Numerous outstanding scientists, among them six Nobel laureates, have taught and researched here. The geographical location fosters a lively scientific and cultural exchange with south-eastern Europe through mobility programs and collaborations with more than 300 partner institutions in Europe alone.

As a platform for science communication for a sustainable perception of science and research in today's society, the 7th faculty was founded.

The research focus of the Chair of Political Communication, which is also located at the 7th faculty, includes political communication from a political science and socio-political point of view.

The year 2011 was proclaimed the Year of Science in Lower Austria. In the course of this, the two national companies Life Science Krems GmbH and Lower Austrian Research Association for University of Applied Sciences and University were merged to form the Lower Austrian Research and Education Association (NFB), now the Gesellschaft für Forschungsförderung Lower Austria m.b.H. (GFF). The company, which is based in St. Pölten, pursues exclusively non-profit goals, such as the promotion of science, teaching and research and the education and training of people in Lower Austria. Owner is the country Lower Austria.

With netPOL, the GFF not only establishes a European science cooperation, but also strengthens the supraregional activities of Lower Austria in the university and tertiary education sector. In this context, netPOL is implemented and expanded by the GFF with the Institute for Strategy Analyzes (ISA), which is responsible for project coordination, as a network of partner universities in the field of teaching and research policy communication.

The Institute for Strategy Analysis (ISA) was founded in 2007. The main focus is on studies and strategy consulting based on social science data.

ISA deals mainly with public goods (politics, media, health, environment / energy, education, social affairs, etc.) as topics of public communication. In 2009, ISA was commissioned to coordinate netPOL. The main tasks include the further networking, communication and structural and content coordination of netPOL.

The Danube University Krems was founded in 1995 and is a state university specializing in postgraduate education. It is one of the leading European providers of extra-occupational university courses. It updates the knowledge of academics and executives, addresses the societal challenge of lifelong learning, and provides application-oriented research. The focal points of the project netPOL are political information, political participation and political communication in the narrower sense as campaign work.

There are two university courses (Political Education and Political Communication) being offered as well as participation research projects.