Friedrich Faulhammer (*1963) studied law at the University of Vienna. He worked there from 1985 to 1990 at the Institute for Legal History as well as in the legal department of the University Directorate and moved to the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research in 1990. In 2005, he became Section Head of the Higher Education Section in the Federal Ministry of Science and Research and served as its Secretary General from 2009. During his more than two decades as a civil servant of the Republic of Austria, Faulhammer has been instrumental in shaping Austrian and European higher education policy, including the implementation of the Universities Act 2002.
Friedrich Faulhammer has been Rector of the University for Continuing Education Krems (Danube University Krems) since 2013. In this function, Faulhammer was appointed for his third term of office until 2025 by the Senate and University Council in 2020. Important milestones in the further development of the University for Continuing Education Krems, which was founded in 1995, have been reached during his tenure as Rector, such as its complete integration into the Austrian University Act, the establishment of PhD studies on the basis of the right to award doctorates and, most recently, the implementation of the Austrian continuing education reform.
The University for Continuing Education Krems has a strong international orientation towards Europe, especially towards Central Europe and the Danube region. This orientation is reflected in the university's memberships in the European University Association and the Danube Rectors’ Conference (DRC). In 2016, Friedrich Faulhammer was elected President of the DRC for the first time by the General Assembly. Faulhammer used his term of office in 2017 and 2018 to concretise the universities' contribution to the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region by setting up transdisciplinary research and networking projects and to anchor the Danube Rectors’ Conference as a stakeholder at the European level. On 11 November, the General Assembly of the Danube Rectors’ Conference re-elected Friedrich Faulhammer as President at its meeting in Maribor. Faulhammer aims to continue to position the Danube Rectors’ Conference as a strong partner in the implementation of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region in order to strengthen the contributions of science and research to the positive development of the regions along the Danube.
Friedrich Faulhammer is also committed to this important European region within the Vienna-based Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM). After being appointed to the IDM's board in 2019, Faulhammer took over as vice-chair in 2020. In October 2022, he was elected as the new Chair at the Institute's General Assembly. The Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM) is a regional think tank on an association basis, financed mainly by public funds. Founded in 1953, the institute conducts research and works with a geographical focus on the countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, especially the Danube region. As the new chairman for the next three years, Faulhammer aims to focus on close cooperation between research and society. In doing so, IDM and the University for Continuing Education Krems will further deepen their long-standing cooperation. Friedrich Faulhammer's other functions include membership of the University Council of the Vienna University of Teacher Education since 2021 and membership of the Board of the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft (LBG) since 2018. The LBG is a research institution and operates the 19 Ludwig Boltzmann Institutes.
