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IMC ambassador for academic mobility honoured by Erasmus+

Prof. (FH) Dr Maximilian Schachner is Deputy Head of the International Relations Department at IMC Krems. On 21 December 2020, he received the Erasmus+ Award in the category of Higher Education for his many years of service as an "Erasmus+ Ambassador".

Max Schachner mit Kollegin vor Weltkarte

For 25 years, Max Schachner has been successfully committed to building and expanding the global partner network.

Right from the beginning

Maximilian Schachner has been involved in the Erasmus programme in Austria since its beginnings. Over the past 25 years, the Upper Austrian-born communications scientist and tourism expert has been responsible for the "Academic Mobility" of students (at universities and in the context of professional internships), lecturers and administrative staff. Since the beginning of his tenure at IMC Krems, he has worked intensively and successfully to establish and expand the global partner network ( which currently includes almost 150 universities on all continents) and has made a significant contribution to anchoring internationalisation as a fixed component of the strategic orientation and everyday practice.

As lecturer of the English-language degree programme Tourism and Leisure Management, he himself spent numerous teaching assignments ("Erasmus Staff Mobilities for Teaching") at partner universities. In 2017, he received the Erasmus Minister Award from the European Association of Erasmus Coordinators. In addition to Erasmus students, Schachner has also been supervising Marshall Plan and Ernst Mach scholarship holders as well as Fulbright professors for many years. He himself was also active for several months in autumn 2005 as a "Fulbright Visiting Scholar" at Arizona State University in Phoenix.

Cosmopolitan and networker with an sense of humour

One of his favourite sayings is "Forward ever - backward never". His colleagues describe him as a man who never loses his cool and who always finds the right words - in several languages. He inspires students and colleagues alike to take part in mobility programmes and supports his "protégés" in their international study and career planning. He is particularly appreciated by graduates for his communicative, empathetic and humorous manner.

About the Erasmus+ Award

The Austrian National Agency Erasmus+ Education is committed to presenting and rewarding projects of outstanding quality and exceptionally committed project supporters to a broad public. For this reason, the Erasmus+ Award in the field of education was awarded for the sixth time in 2020.

The award highlights the importance of the quality of mobility projects and strategic partnerships and sets an example for sustainability in the world of education. The immense commitment and full dedication of the project supporters is also acknowledged with this award.

In addition to the mobility projects, the strategic partnerships were also honoured. Here, it was the goal to award prizes to the best Austrian projects in the education sector and to showcase them. In addition, the Austrian Erasmus+ Ambassadors in the four education sectors were recognised again this year.