Place-based Higher Education Policies in Austria

STI place-based policies appear at different levels of higher education policy making. In the Austrian case place-based policies are relevant at federal level including instruments and initiatives relating to public financing of universities within the three-year performance agreements (subsumed under the header of “Lead Institutions Initiative” (Leitinstitutionen-Initiative). Also regions (Länder) play a decisive role in the provision of relevant funds and programmes as well as in the definition of strategic priorities. The “Lead Institution Initiative” sets out the respective requirements concerning the strategic interaction of universities and their location (region) in order to develop and implement regional STI strategies. Last but not least, top-down empowerment of public universities’ engagement in the regional knowledge triangle is accompanied by bottom-up coordination of higher education institutions. The emergence of regional higher education conferences (regionale Hochschulkonferenzen) was important to operationalize horizontal coordination. Regional higher education conferences are therefore mostly designed to address the needs for coordination of public universities, universities of applied sciences (UAS), university colleges engaged in teacher education, and, in some regions, private universities. Regional higher education conferences act as hubs concerning the implementation of coordinated projects and initiatives (together with other components of the knowledge triangle), both in terms of research and education. At national level, by contrast, the Austrian Universities Conference (UNIKO, for public universities), the Conference of Universities of Applied Sciences (FHK), and the Conference of Private Universities (PUK) mainly act as interest groups and political voices for these three types of HEI by allowing them to adopt a coordinated position concerning questions relating to social or higher educational matters.