Education
The Botanical Garden is home to more than 11,500 different plant species, providing researchers from all fields of biology an excellent opportunity to study plant life. Beyond conducting research, the Botanical Garden’s mission includes disseminating scientific knowledge. This is done in the framework of various courses for students at the University of Vienna, supplemented by guided tours, courses, exhibitions and other events for our visitors.
The 'Grüne Schule'
The 'Green School' at the Botanical Garden , founded more than 25 years ago by Michael Kiehn, plays an important role in our knowledge-sharing task. It is tailored to school classes, kindergartens and private groups, who can take advantage of our wide selection of seasonally changing guided tours and workshop topics in the fields of botany and biology.
Beyond conducting guided tours and workshops, the Green School is devoted to training future biology teachers. Green School guides are largely recruited from students enrolled in the teacher training curriculum in biology. During the course of their work here they learn practical skills that supplement the theoretical knowledge gained at the university. This gives them hands-on experience in dealing with school classes when they assume their later duties as biology teachers.
The 'Botanicum'
Since 2019, the Green School is housed in a winterproof pavilion – the Botanicum. It is ideally suited for various educational activities. The building covers a surface area of 110 m² and includes a classroom and a preparation room. Children and youngsters can use this space to work with microscopes, dissect and propagate plants, conduct experiments and discuss the work among themselves. The Botanicum also hosts study programs, courses and discussion rounds.
The Website of the Green School lists a wide range of guided tours and workshops that you can book online.
The 'Botanicum'
University teaching
Numerous classes and lab courses at the University of Vienna showcase living plants and require students to actively examine the material. These plants are provided by the Botanical Garden. Every year, the Garden delivers nearly 10,000 specimens representing about 4000 different species. The university courses are designed for, among others, biologists, geneticists, pharmacists and nutritional scientists. Students from other faculties and universities also use the Garden. These include students enrolled at the Department of Geography of the University of Vienna, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, and the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna.
In addition, the Botanical Garden is involved in coursework within the frame of the University of Vienna's Studium Generale, for which it offers a module for botany and species protection.
Studying at the University of Vienna
If you want to help shape the future with your ideas and are looking for more than just a place to study, then you've come to the right place at our top 100 university: Whether you're interested in a bachelor's or diploma programme, a master's, doctorate, or PhD, the University of Vienna offers a wide range of 185 programs. We also offer numerous postgraduate programmes and international exchange programmes.
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AECC
Another focus, in cooperation with colleagues from the Österreichisches Kompetenzzentrum für Didaktik der Biologie (Austrian Educational Competence Centre Biology – AECC), is examining how biological knowledge can be presented didactically so that it is readily accessible to and understandable by children and youngsters. Every person has preconceptions, and these can play an important role by either complicating or, with luck, even simplifying our grasp of scientific concepts. Conveying botanical knowledge also often faces the hurdle that many people have a "blind eye" for plants. This is because, as opposed to animals, plants don’t tend to exhibit conspicuous behaviors. This calls for highlighting the many facets of plants and emphasizing their importance for humanity.
Gardening and horticulture
As opposed to commercial nurseries, scientific plant collections contain plants that come from all corners of the world and have highly diverging ecological requirements. This calls for a top-notch education and highly specialized knowledge about their respective cultivation conditions. The Botanical Garden is proud to train budding gardeners, and our highly qualified graduates enjoy very good job prospects.
During the three-year programm, up to nine trainees are taught to become professional gardeners in our very own facility. During this time and depending on the season, the candidates work in the different greenhouse areas and collections as well as in the outdoor zones. This gives them first-hand knowledge and skills in culturing and propagating plants with a wide range of environmental requirements. The training also involves preserving and maintaining park-like landscapes.
Part of the curriculum is also devoted to learning about the Garden's plant collections and the species they contain. Correctly documenting and labeling plants for living scientific collections is another important aspect.
New apprenticeship vacancies for the following year are always advertised in the autumn on our website or via the University of Vienna’s Job Centre. Applications can only be submitted during the application period and only via the Job Centre. The start date is in the autumn.
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