New term of office with clear demands: Politicians must finally focus on UASs and urgently improve framework conditions!

The re-election of Ulrike Prommer (IMC Krems) at the General Assembly on 29 November 2024 was approved by 100%iger. This also applied to the appointment of the other positions on the Executive Board of the Austrian University of Applied Sciences Conference (FHK):

1st Vice-President

Georg Pehm (Burgenland University of Applied Sciences)

2nd Vice-President

Prof. (FH) Dr Andreas Breinbauer (FH of the BFI Vienna)

Treasurer

Dr Andreas Altmann (MCI)

Deputy treasurer

Prof. (FH) DI Hannes Raffaseder (FH St. Pölten)

Secretary

Prof. (FH) Dr Heimo Sandtner (FH Campus Wien)

Deputy Secretary

Kristina Edlinger-Ploder (FH Campus 02)

Taking the current government negotiations as an opportunity, the re-elected President has clear words for politicians: "The important role of UASs in application-oriented research and teaching has not yet been recognised by politicians. A new government must now set the course for the future and finally implement long overdue reforms in the UAS sector!"

"We are primarily concerned with structural measures in teaching and research so that we can maintain our performance and realise our potential for Austria as a business and science location. An accreditation option for doctoral programmes, as has long been the case in Germany, is just as much a part of this as adequate funding that takes teaching, research and knowledge transfer into account in the long term. Comprehensive and reliable funding for UASs strengthens Austria's innovative power and competitiveness.

The high effectiveness of these measures must finally be recognised by politicians in Austria. I am putting my new term of office at the service of these demands to politicians, who now have the opportunity to implement them as part of the government negotiations. In this respect, we urgently demand that the FH/HAW are also consulted in the negotiations on the science sector," emphasises Ulrike Prommer.

The FHK's demands on a future federal government: https://fhk.ac.at/fhk-broschuere-zur-wahl/