Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

intelligent tutoring systems
are another 
area in which AI can be used. Unlike with learning 
analytics, intelligent tutoring systems are designed 
to give students personalised feedback independent-
ly and in real time – to simulate the teacher, in other 
words. Virtual tutors “observe” students’ behaviour 
and draw their own conclusions from their learning 
history, which is backed up by data. AI can thus be 
used to provide students with targeted support com-
mensurate with their competency level and relieve 
the burden on teaching staff. In turn, the data gener-
ated by the intelligent tutoring system help to im-
prove the AI systems.
Following on from a call for tenders issued in 2019 

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3. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
165
on “digital and social transformation in higher educa-
tion”, the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and 
Research (BMBWF) is funding selected university 
projects, some of which also have an AI element (see 
the section entitled “Current topics and trends in the 
higher education sector”). For example, the project 
“PASSt – Predictive Analytics Services für Studiener-
folgsmanagement” (“PASSt – Predictive Analytics 
Services for Managing Study Success”), run by the 
Vienna University of Technology (in cooperation with 
the Graz University of Technology), is looking at us-
ing data to support students, while the project 
“Learning Analytics – Studierende im Fokus” (“Learn-
ing Analytics – Focus on Students”) at Graz Universi-
ty of Technology (in cooperation with Vienna Univer-
sity of Technology) is concentrating on combining 
digitalisation with a social dimension by making the 
individual student’s studies visible.
At bachelor’s and master’s level, higher education 
teaching traditionally treats the topic of artificial in-
telligence as part of the core discipline of computer 
science or as part of a “Data Science” degree, as is the 
case at Vienna University of Technology and Graz Uni-
versity of Technology and at the universities of Vienna, 
Innsbruck, Salzburg and Klagenfurt. At master’s level, 
specialised degrees such as “Visual Computing” (Vien-
na University of Technology) and “Information and 
Computer Engineering” (Graz University of Technolo-
gy) have a strong AI element. Robotics courses form