{"id":30991,"date":"2026-04-24T12:23:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T10:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fhk.ac.at\/?p=30991"},"modified":"2026-04-24T12:23:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T10:23:06","slug":"fh-haw-schluessel-fuer-innovation-fachkraefte-und-soziale-durchlaessigkeit-aber-strukturell-unterfinanziert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fhk.ac.at\/en\/fh-haw-schluessel-fuer-innovation-fachkraefte-und-soziale-durchlaessigkeit-aber-strukturell-unterfinanziert\/","title":{"rendered":"FH\/HAW: Key to innovation, skilled labour and social permeability - but structurally underfunded"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>FORWIT study shows: FH\/HAW are central to competitiveness, regions and labour market - policy now required<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A current FORWIT analysis as part of the Austrian Higher Education Strategy 2040 emphasises the central role of universities of applied sciences (UAS) for applied research, innovation transfer, qualification of skilled workers and regional development in Austria. At the same time, the study reveals clear structural deficits in the funding and strategic integration of the UAS sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study clearly shows that applied research and experimental development have less impact in Austria than in comparable countries. One of the main reasons cited by FORWIT is the small size and limited quantitative development of the UAS sector in international comparison. Yet it is precisely the UASs that systematically combine research with economic and social application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, despite their key role in the applied sciences, the financial resources of UASs are inadequate. Only a very small proportion of public research funding reaches the sector, mainly in the short term and only on a project basis. Long-term research structures, sustainable competence development and strategic profile development are thus made much more difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to innovation and research, UASs play a key role in the labour market and social development. They provide low-threshold access to academic education, offer practical and part-time study formats and react particularly flexibly to new skills requirements, such as those arising from digitalisation, artificial intelligence and demographic changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the view of the FHK, a clear political change of course is therefore required. In particular, the FHK calls for<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>sustainable, structural funding of applied research at UASs, in addition to project funding, and thus strengthening research capacities at UASs for long-term competence and profile development<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>fair and performance-orientated framework conditions in the entire higher education and innovation system<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the opportunity to offer externally accredited doctoral programmes at UASs with strong research capabilities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201eOur universities are highly agile, regionally anchored and closely networked with business and society. In order for them to fully fulfil this role, they need reliable framework conditions and a strategic upgrading of the UASs within the system,\u201c emphasises UASK President Ulrike Prommer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A significant strengthening of UASs is not a sectoral demand, but an investment in competitiveness, skilled labour, social opportunities and Austria as a business location as a whole.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FORWIT\u2011Studie zeigt: FH\/HAW sind zentral f\u00fcr Wettbewerbsf\u00e4higkeit, Regionen und Arbeitsmarkt \u2013 Politik jetzt gefordert Eine aktuelle FORWIT\u2011Analyse im Rahmen der Hochschulstrategie \u00d6sterreich 2040 unterstreicht die zentrale Rolle der Fachhochschulen\/Hochschulen f\u00fcr Angewandte Wissenschaften (FH\/HAW) f\u00fcr angewandte Forschung, Innovationstransfer, Qualifizierung von Fachkr\u00e4ften und regionale Entwicklung in \u00d6sterreich. Gleichzeitig zeigt die Studie deutliche strukturelle Defizite in der Finanzierung [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nachrichten"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fhk.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fhk.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fhk.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fhk.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fhk.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fhk.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30992,"href":"https:\/\/fhk.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30991\/revisions\/30992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fhk.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fhk.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fhk.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}