IDM MANAGING BOARD
United in diversity: this guiding idea of Europe can also be found in science. It is diverse in its disciplines, and yet united in the pursuit of knowledge. For the Danube Region and Central Europe, the IDM combines the diversity of science with that of politics, business, culture and civil society. In this way, the IDM ensures a lively exchange of ideas, knowledge as well as social perspectives and solutions.
Mag. Friedrich FAULHAMMER
Chairman
Friedrich Faulhammer is head of the future initiative of the state of Lower Austria. From 2013 to 2025 he was Rector of the University of Continuing Education Krems. The lawyer previously served as head of department and general secretary in the Federal Ministry of Science and Research and, in his more than two decades of work there, played a key role in shaping Austrian and European higher education policy, including the implementation of the 2002 University Act, the expansion of the university of applied sciences sector and the establishment of overall quality assurance in higher education.
Faulhammer (*1963) studied law in Vienna. From 1985 to 1990, he worked at the Institute of Legal History at the University of Vienna and in the Legal Department of the University Directorate, before moving to the Federal Ministry of Science and Research in 1990. In 2005, he became Head of the University Section at the Federal Ministry of Science and Research and has served as its Secretary General since 2009. From 2016 to 2018 and from 2022 to 2024, Faulhammer served as President of the Danube Rectors’ Conference a network of around 70 universities based in the countries of the Danube region.
From 2021 to 2026 he was a member of the University Council of the Vienna University of Education, from 2024 as Chairman, and since April 2026 he has been a member of the University Council of the Lower Austrian University of Education. Since 2023 he has been the founder and chairman of the Austrian School Foundation in the Republic of Moldova and a member of the German Accreditation Council since 2025.
In 2019, he was appointed to the Board of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM). From 2020 to September 2022, he served as Deputy Chairman of the Board of the IDM, and since October 2022, he has been Chairman of the Board.
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