FHV – Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences

FHV – Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences has spent more than three decades bringing people from different disciplines together in Dornbirn. A wholly owned subsidiary of the State of Vorarlberg, it covers engineering, business, design, social work and health, with practice-oriented research running alongside its teaching.

The figures it publishes describe a compact university: around 1,700 students on more than 20 degree programmes, roughly half of them part-time, some 380 employees, over 100 international partner universities, 80-plus partner companies and a research volume of €6.8 million in 2025. Teaching takes place at CAMPUS V in Dornbirn.

The Department of Design treats design as a transdisciplinary practice at the intersection of design, technology and society, not pure form-giving. Its Bachelor InterMedia (BA in Arts and Design, six semesters, 180 ECTS) centres on digital media and social issues; the Master Design and Creative Leadership (MA, part-time, 120 ECTS) prepares students to lead transdisciplinary processes.

Project work is part of the curriculum: students have produced work at the Ars Electronica Festival, the Barbican Centre in London and the Poolbar Festival, and the department runs Open Idea and a Design Symposium. FHV is a founding member of the Alliance of Sustainable Universities.