As part of a round of talks on current topics in the FH sector, the Presidium of the FHK, represented by President Ulrike Prommer, Vice-President Dr Andreas Breinbauer, Dr Andreas Altmann and Dr Uwe Trattnig, presented Federal Minister Dr Polaschek with a brand new Value creation study on the Austrian university of applied sciences sector handed over.

According to the study, universities of applied sciences increase the productivity and GDP of Austria as a business location. In 2023 alone, the universities of applied sciences will have increased Austria's GDP by 1.8 billion euros through their first degrees from 2010 to 2022. And the trend is rising!

The universities of applied sciences and their almost 16,000 employees were responsible for around 533 million in GDP in Austria in 2022 and also secured around 4,200 additional jobs. These employees enabled the state to generate direct and indirect tax revenues of around 410 million euros, which are offset by around 380 million euros in direct federal funding for universities of applied sciences.

"Every euro invested by the federal government in the UAS sector each year flows back to the federal government with a high rate of return in the form of taxes," says FHK President Ulrike Prommer, summarising an important finding of the study.

In this context, the representatives of the FHK once again emphasised the urgency of a prompt cost-of-living adjustment and thanked Federal Minister Polaschek for his support.

Federal Minister Polaschek expressed his thanks for the study and was impressed by the results presented. He emphasised the great importance of universities of applied sciences for Austria as a location for higher education: "With their diverse and part-time study programmes, Austrian universities of applied sciences make an important contribution to meeting the demand for skilled workers in the economic and industrial location. This must be safeguarded in the future and expanded in line with demand," said Federal Minister Polaschek on the impressive achievements of the universities of applied sciences.