Sigmund Freud University (SFU) is an Austrian private university with campuses in several European countries. As faculty, staff and students, we commit ourselves to critical enlightenment, open- ness and multi-professional discourse. As a purely private university, we are independent of public funding and therefore unaffected by political, religious or economic directives. In regard to re- search, teaching and our university’s public value, we strive for the advancement of human rights- based, democratic and polyvalent cultures.

Research: At our university, the connection of different academic cultures stimulates the development of transdisciplinary research strategies. We take up pressing and conflictual topics and analyze the causes, effects and forms of coping with crises in all areas of individual and social life. Our transnational university structure promotes both cross-border research cooperation and transcultural communication. Our research achievements are innovative, socially relevant and internationally visible.

Teaching: At our university, the individual development of personality is seen as equally important to academic and professional skills. The curricula of our degree programmes are based on an integrative understanding of education. In addition to their specific core subjects, our curricula also draw from further disciplines to an appropriate extent.

To accommodate our participation in the collective environment, we as a university community create the framework for responsible and sustainable use of professional, human, and structural resources.

Our teachers consider themselves mentors who support our students in both their education and transition to professional life. The biographical, international and interest-specific diversity of our student groups facilitates intercultural encounters, exchange and learning experience.

Third Mission: Our teaching and research activities are inspired by impulses from various areas of society, which in turn benefit from our insights and research findings. We cooperate with institutions and companies in the public and private sectors and make our resources available to cooperation partners with regional and global tasks.

Our therapeutic and counseling facilities are oriented towards the principle of dialogue. They focus on the well-being of the clients and take into account their specific needs and experiences within the framework of empirical research.

In order to empower learners of all generations for personal development and participation in society, the university aims to offer a wide range of continuing education opportunities.