Personalized and Research-Led Teaching as Building Blocks to Success During Pandemic Times in Austria's Higher Education Sector

35 years after signing the Ottawa Charter, the field of health promotion is undergoing a dynamic development. This also applies to the tertiary education sector. There is still no law in Austria that regulates occupations in health promotion. Another challenge is that students within a specific cohort have different interests, goals and prior knowledge. This requires flexibility and openness. Besides, the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the need for digital, flexible and personalized teaching and learning opportunities at universities. Concept: In this paper the didactic framework of a full-time bachelors’ programme as well as a part-time masters’ programme at the University of Applied Sciences Burgenland is described. The CompHP framework and the outlines of a new health education policy in the DACH region formed the basis for defining study goals. Principles: In order to achieve the study goals, two didactic principles are combined: personalized teaching and learning and linking teaching and research. Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, using a variety of didactic principles and creating a concept for the implementation of distance learning methods can help meet the challenges during the knowledge transformation process. Results may be referred to a wide range of study programmes in various academic fields.