Sustainable funding and accredited doctoral programmes are the order of the day in order to strengthen Austria as a business and science location and prevent emigration

The research directors of the universities of applied sciences and universities of applied sciences (UAS) are using their meeting in the UAS Committee for Research and Development as an opportunity to comment on the current political discussion about their future framework conditions.

UASs are the fastest-growing university sector in terms of research, and demand and interest in their research services from society, business and industry is higher than ever before despite the difficult economic situation. "We are convinced that application-orientated research, as we conduct it, is of great importance in economically strained times. Innovations must reach the market and society quickly, especially now, in order to generate added value and strengthen the competitiveness of our domestic companies. With this in mind, we appeal to the parties involved in the current government negotiations to urgently improve the structural framework conditions for UASs," says Johann Kastner, Head of the FHK Research Committee and Vice President for Research and Development at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria.

The heads of research emphasise that quality and excellence in application-oriented teaching and research is a top priority for UASs. In an international comparison, they already lead the list of European Universities with five successful universities and are represented in all relevant national and international excellence programmes with application-oriented research topics. Thanks to their high level of application orientation and decades of expertise in cooperative research, the UASs know what the economy needs. "Particularly in economically strained times, we UAS need sustainable funding for our application-oriented teaching and research in order to support the economy in its leap into the future and also to provide solutions for social challenges in the field of health and social affairs," emphasises Kastner.

On the current debate in the context of the doctorate, Kastner explains: "We can understand that the universities are reluctant to give up their competitive advantage of doctoral rights. We value our cooperation with the universities, but our research interests are not always the same. Many of our graduates and researchers go abroad, especially to Germany, where universities of applied sciences and universities of applied sciences offer application- and industry-orientated dissertations. This brain drain threatens Austria as a centre of business and science. We are therefore appealing to the future government to act now and enable doctoral programmes at Austrian UASs, after prior accreditation and thus quality-assured."