European universities are currently undergoing a reform process on the way towards a common higher education area. The establishment and assessment of new Master?s and PhD programmes has to be carefully implemented to guarantee a long-term success and sufficient competitiveness on the global education market. The University of Agricultural Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) has established a Master's programme in Mountain Forestry as a contribution to the International Year of Mountains 2002. To offer an international degree programme in such a complex field as the sustainable management of mountain forests is a huge challenge. For all actors involved it is important to learn to accept different views and approaches, and to adapt a holistic and integrated view instead of a mono-disciplinary way of thinking. Different mountain ecosystems and management strategies as well as different types of technologies have to be compared and discussed. European universities and research institutions dispose of a vast pool of knowledge and experience in the field of management of natural resources and sustainable development in mountain areas and should therefore work together on a common strategy on both the educational and the research sector for the time after IYM 2002.
