10th Anniversary
The Department of Higher Education Research and Development, which is unique in Austria, was set up 10 years ago to identify the need for change and development in the higher education organisation and its services, and to point the way to innovation on the basis of empirical studies. More than 100 projects, 150 scientific and popular scientific publications and the acquisition of third-party funds amounting to approximately 3.5 million euros can be recorded as very positive achievements.
The autonomous organisational structure of the faculty, which was introduced by law in 2012, required numerous structural and procedural organisational changes at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria. In order to implement this organisational development in a professional and competent manner, the Department of Higher Education Research and Development was founded in autumn 2011. Since then, it has been acting as a "seismograph" for changes and trends in the regional, national and international higher education landscape and advises the faculty in teaching and research as well as the university management in the planning, initiation and management of innovation and reflection processes.
The spectrum of research topics ranges from the design of higher education systems, sectors and institutions to the analysis of study, teaching and research conditions. The results are addressed to all stakeholders: policy makers, business, higher education institutions, students and society. One of the major strengths of this unit is the close integration with the areas of organisational development, quality management, higher education didactics, diversity management, academic continuing education and sustainability management at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria. On the one hand, this approach has made it possible to establish a structure that is extremely resource-efficient and makes use of synergies; on the other hand, this close cooperation has also promoted professional development in a very efficient thematic breadth. The establishment of the Department of Higher Education Research and Development has thus provided significant impulses and concrete contributions to organisational development at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria and, through numerous conference participations and publications, has also made a sustainable and visible contribution to (inter)national higher education research.
