At the joint press conference held by Federal Minister Faßmann and FHK President Raimund Ribitsch on 7 May 2020, the FHK President reiterated his call for an immediate 10 per cent increase in federal funding.

"If you take annual inflation into account, universities of applied sciences now receive around EUR 2,500 less federal funding per student per year than when the universities of applied sciences were founded 25 years ago!" says Ribitsch. This is a lack of funding that ultimately affects the quality of the degree programme and therefore directly affects the students.

The FHK President emphasised that the initial funding gap had turned into a huge funding gap and that the Covid pandemic had massively accelerated this development.

"We must not allow the Covid crisis to be compounded by a massive crisis at universities of applied sciences!" This is why the universities of applied sciences need the funding for teaching as announced in the government programme - NOW!", Ribitsch appeals to the federal government.

Enquiry note:
Kurt Koleznik
FHK Secretary General
Tel.: 0664/4244294