At the provincial governors' conference held on 7 June 2023 in Andau in northern Burgenland, all nine Austrian provincial governors called for the introduction of externally accredited doctoral programmes at universities of applied sciences for the first time.

The official press release states:

„Doctoral programmes at universities of applied sciences
Alongside universities, universities of applied sciences are a key factor for Austria as a centre of science and business. In order to support the universities of applied sciences, further development is needed to enable externally accredited doctoral programmes at universities of applied sciences. Different types of higher education institutions, such as private universities, already have the right to offer doctoral programmes. In the Federal Republic of Germany, the right to award doctorates has already been introduced for universities of applied sciences. In order to be able to keep up in this international competition between locations, the state authorities are calling on the federal government to review the legal basis in this regard."

The Conference of Universities of Applied Sciences expressly welcomes this demand!

You can find the complete text here.