The Salzburg University of Applied Sciences has a new managing director. The 44-year-old Tyrolean Dominik Engel will take up the position on September 1, 2022, according to the Salzburg Chamber of Owners (AK) and Chamber of Commerce (WK). With a management from the scientific field, you want to strengthen teaching and research. Engel knows the house well: He has been a professor at the University of Applied Sciences since 2011 and has headed the center for safe energy informatics in the house since 2018.

A total of 60 people applied for the five-year position. The appointment of a managing director is part of a new reorganization process that the sponsors AK and WK are currently implementing on the initiative of the state. With the new appointment you want to achieve a stronger profile and position yourself better in the educational competition. In addition, in the interest of Salzburg as a business and work location, the FH is to become even more “the state’s asset for the training of skilled workers at an academic level and for innovation at all levels,” according to a press release.

Teaching is restructured

In April, it was therefore decided to restructure teaching at the beginning of the fall semester and to combine the courses at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences into six departments. The two previous managing directors of the FH, Raimund Ribitsch (since 2000) and Doris Walter (since 2006), step down and become authorized signatories. “Both are handing over a well-established organization, academically as well as organizing,” said the owners. However, there have been internal differences between the management and the rectorate in the past, which have caused unrest.

The designated managing director Engel is a qualified computer scientist and can also refer to studies in the field of technical sciences and English and American studies, which he completed with distinction. “Among other things, I’m concerned with even more internationalization and interdisciplinarity and more social permeability in the course of study,” he explained in an initial statement. The Salzburg University of Applied Sciences currently has around 3,200 students and 400 employees. And the next major personnel decision is imminent: the contract with Rector Gerhard Blechinger runs until September 2023.