Anniversary: Three decades of Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences
29.08.2024
30 years of education, research and innovation: On 6 September, Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences celebrates its anniversary with invited guests and a campus party for staff, students and alumni. For its anniversary, FHV looks back on an impressive success story: Founded in 1989 as the ‘Technikum Vorarlberg’ association, it was renamed ‘Fachhochschul-Studiengänge Vorarlberg’ in 1994 based on the new University of Applied Sciences Studies Act that had just been passed at the time. FHV’s managing director Stefan Fitz-Rankl: “At the time, there was a visionary initiative aimed at anchoring and expanding internationally recognised higher education in the region. This vision has been more than realised: Today, we have around 7,000 alumni, have become a ‘European University’ and are also one of the strongest research universities of applied sciences in Austria.”
Numerous milestones
FHV can look back on numerous milestones. “For example, the continuous expansion to currently 25 study programmes in the fields of technology, business, design, social work and health. In FHV’s early days, around 50 students studied at FHV. Today, we have more than 1,500 students”, explains FHV’s rector Tanja Eiselen. “Other important steps were the consistent internationalisation from as early as 1997, the gradual establishment of the research centres and groups, the start of cooperation with the ‘Strong Partners’ in 2014, the founding of the ‘European University’ RUN-EU in 2020, and the building extensions which will soon be completed,” adds Fitz-Rankl. In time for the anniversary celebration, more buildings, which will be used for teaching and office spaces, will be completed.
Vorarlberg’s governor Markus Wallner emphasises: “Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences enjoys an excellent reputation far beyond the state's borders. On the one hand, it does a first-class job in training future-proof and urgently needed employees. On the other hand, FHV is the leading research partner of the local economy with a record research volume and a strong involvement of companies and organisations in Vorarlberg. We can only congratulate FHV it on its remarkable development over three decades - the state continues to stand firmly behind its university of applied sciences.”
European University
Since 2020, FHV has been a founding member of the European University alliance RUN-EU (Regional University Network-European University). As part of this long-term cooperation, the RUN-EU Students Week and General Assembly will take place in the week from 2 to 6 September. “We are looking forward to welcoming an international audience to our university. The week is an intensive working week for all employees of our RUN-EU partner universities, which serves to further develop and institutionalise the European University.
Students can expect an exciting programme with numerous courses dealing with trend topics such as AI or sustainability. They will develop solutions for the current challenges of our time. We also offer a varied cultural programme to show them Vorarlberg at its best,” says FHV’s managing director Fitz-Rankl looking ahead and emphasises: “The planning and implementation of this major event is only possible thanks to the commitment of numerous dedicated FHV employees, and we would like to say a big thank you to everyone involved.”
Meet the Region
The week also includes the ‘Meet the Region’-event, aiming at getting to know Vorarlberg as a location and offering networking opportunities between students and university partners with Vorarlberg companies and stakeholders. The associated RUN-EU partners include the state of Vorarlberg, WISTO, the Vorarlberg Federation of Industry and CampusVäre.
Vice-Governor of Vorarlberg, Barbara Schöbi-Fink, concludes: “As a founding member of RUN-EU, Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences is proud to play a central role in the development of this unique European university alliance. The international General Assembly Week and FHV’s 30th anniversary FHV offer an ideal opportunity to actively shape the future of education and research in a European context and to further expand the strong network with our partner universities. This collaboration enables us to provide our students and staff with valuable international experience and skills that are of immense value in the global labour market.”
Click here for the history of FHV (available in English).
Schedule: RUN-EU Students & General Assembly Week:
General info: FHV hosts RUN-EU General Assembly and Students Week 2024
Agenda: FHV_RUN-EU_General Assembly_Agenda_20240829.pdf
