Universities of Applied Sciences in Austria are also responsible for teaching and research in the healthcare professions. The transfer of the healthcare professions to the universities of applied sciences has ensured the academic level of training. Physiotherapists, midwives, medical-technical laboratory services, occupational therapists, speech therapists and qualified nurses, to name just a few members of this occupational group, are now trained at universities of applied sciences and graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree.

The reason for this transfer was to sustainably safeguard healthcare provision and health promotion in Austrian society. The aim was to ensure that both teaching and research continue to develop in this area and that graduates have practical professional skills at an academic level as well as application-orientated research skills.

"Our society is facing health challenges that cannot be solved without the research expertise of this professional group. Areas such as healthcare research and prevention research as well as the scientifically sound review of the evidence for medical interventions will become increasingly important for an ageing society in the future. Other European countries have long recognised this. Austria lacks the necessary funding for these research areas as well as publicly financed master's programmes. The latter are indispensable for the development of corresponding research expertise," says FHK President Holzinger.

The FHK is presenting a position paper on this. The aim is to draw the attention of political decision-makers and a future new federal government to the need for the following measures and to encourage their implementation:

• Creating access to existing research funding programmes and implementing specific funding channels for health science degree programmes at universities of applied sciences
• Development of research infrastructure for health science degree programmes at universities of applied sciences
• Creation of publicly funded Master's programmes in the field of healthcare professions

The paper is available on the FHK website under Standpunkte/Positionen.