On 8 September I received the Ars Docendi Anerkennungspreis – the recognition award of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Women, Science and Research – in Vienna, in the category “socially and sustainability-oriented teaching”, for the course design “From subject knowledge to judgement: developing decision-making competence systematically”. I am glad about the recognition. What matters more to me is the question behind it: why do we assume so readily in higher education that students can decide – and teach it so rarely?
What happens in the course
Over one semester, students work on real decision problems from business, politics and society: from logistics strategies to sustainability- and technology-related challenges. They clarify their objectives, develop courses of action, compare economic, social and environmental effects, and derive a reasoned recommendation.
The difference from a classical case study lies at the very beginning. In a case study the problem is given and the analysis is open; here it is the other way round. Students first have to work out which decision is actually at stake and which objectives are attached to it. Only then does the methodological toolkit pay off.
Not a didactic aspiration but a testable claim
Students should not learn to reproduce supposedly correct answers, but to make defensible decisions under uncertainty. Decision-making competence can be learned, examined and measured. This is not a programme statement: it shows up in the course evaluations.
Embedded in the curriculum, not offered as an elective
A course design only takes effect if it does not depend on the accident of course selection. At MCI, “Responsible Decision Making” is one of the learning goals of the bachelor programmes and is reviewed within the Assurance of Learning process of the accreditation body AACSB. The award-winning design is embedded in six bachelor programmes, so it reaches more than those who are interested anyway.
What students take away
“What I learned in this course I still apply today. I approach complex decisions differently than before – more structured, and with more clarity about what actually matters to me.” Julian Pfurtscheller, Chair of the MCI student union and a former student
What the award says – and what it does not
The Ars Docendi Anerkennungspreis honours a single course design. That is a different object from the recognitions that have come in the same period. CEEMAN, the international association for management development, will present me with the Champion Award in the category “Teacher of the Year 2026” in Bucharest on 24 September; that award refers to teaching performance as a whole. The Society of Decision Professionals recognised my engagement in advancing and applying decision analysis with the Inspirational Achievement Award, and the International Academy of Information Technology and Quantitative Management recognised my research with the Richard Price Award.
Four awards, four different objects. What connects them is the conviction that deciding is an ability, not a character trait.
Learning to decide does not make you more certain. It makes your choices better founded.
About the award
Ars Docendi – Austrian State Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Recognition award (Anerkennungspreis) in the category “socially and sustainability-oriented teaching”, presented by the Federal Ministry of Women, Science and Research in Vienna on 8 September 2026. Brochure→ · Press release →