23.5 million euros

Start of construction: new nursing campus in Kapfenberg

Ground-breaking ceremony in Kapfenberg: Mayor Fritz Kratzer, Provincial Councillor Barbara Eibinger-Miedl, Deputy Governor Anton Lang, Governor Christopher Drexler and UAS Managing Directors Martin Payer and Corinna Engelhardt-Nowitzki (from left to right).

(Bild: Sepp Pail)

Ground-breaking ceremony for a new campus for the healthcare and nursing degree course at FH Joanneum: over 220 first-semester students will start their studies in Kapfenberg from 2025. It is a declaration of war against the nursing shortage that is worth 23.5 million euros to the state.

"This is a milestone for FH Joanneum," says Science Minister Eibinger-Miedl (ÖVP) shortly before the official ground-breaking ceremony. Together with many project managers, she stands in front of a pile of earth in the center of Kapfenberg - behind them the walls of a former elementary school. The new campus for the bachelor's degree course in healthcare and nursing is due to be completed by 2025, with 72 first-semester students sitting in the lecture halls.

With this project, we want to meet the increasing demand for nursing staff. It is the first Styrian training opportunity for nursing professions outside of Graz.

Wissenschaftslandesrätin Barbara Eibinger-Miedl (ÖVP)

The aim of the new training place: "We want to meet the increasing demand for nursing staff," says Eibinger-Miedl. A project that seems to be close to the state's heart. A total of 23.5 million euros has been invested in the campus. It is an expansion of the existing range of courses offered by FH Joanneum in Kapfenberg. This is because there are already various training opportunities in technology and sustainability one train station further east.

A model of the new campus in Kapfenberg

(Bild: NOW Architektur ZT GmbH / Expressiv GmbH)

Campus impresses with its city center location
While the students at the first location lack the infrastructure for lunch breaks, the new campus has an impressive inner-city location. "The elementary school building will be renovated and a wooden pavilion added. Including greenery, PV systems and access to the Mürz river," explains Martin Payer, Managing Director of FH Joanneum. Mayor Fritz Kratzer (SPÖ) also expects a "different cityscape" for Kapfenberg.

Start of construction work on the former school building in the town center

(Bild: Sepp Pail)

He is also the one who handed over the old building to the FH Joanneum. It is the first building that the university of applied sciences now manages as an owner and not just as a tenant. "Our team has never developed a project on this scale before," adds Payer. 4000 square meters of floor space, 180 square meters of photovoltaics. Over 220 additional students to the 1000 or so at the first campus.

After training, the right framework conditions in professional life are also important. These include salary, rota security, the option of part-time work and the right salary.

Studiengangsleiterin Eva Mircic

300 of the nursing staff to be trained here are needed in the region alone. Above all, however, they also need attractive framework conditions in their future careers, explains course director Eva Mircic: "This includes salary, rota security, the option of working part-time and the right salary." This year, FH Joanneum has expanded to two other locations in Graz in addition to Kapfenberg to provide the right training. All the details in the interview with Martin Payer.

Fragen an FH-Geschäftsführer Martin Payer

„Man merkt, dass der öffentlichen Hand Pflege etwas wert ist“

"Krone": This ground-breaking ceremony here in Kapfenberg is not your only project this year. To what extent does the FH Joanneum focus on healthcare courses?
Martin Payer: The Department of Health Professions has been offering healthcare and nursing as a Bachelor's degree course since 2016. Since then, we have been gradually expanding this course - we started with 36 first-year students and this year there are already 300 places per year. We have now also added the corresponding infrastructure. We have expanded the campus in Eckertstraße in Graz, this year we have created a cooperation project with the Brothers of Mercy in Bergstraße - and now this lighthouse project here in Kapfenberg.

Martin Payer, Managing Director of FH Joanneum.

(Bild: Sepp Pail)

How does Styria position itself throughout Austria or even internationally thanks to the projects in the healthcare sector?
The great thing about FH Joanneum is that we are very diverse and set milestones in many areas, but the innovations in the healthcare sector are something very special. We have a total of more than 1,300 students on all healthcare degree programs. The proportion of students coming from abroad is constantly increasing. Our aim is to create an attractive offer with good study conditions. You can tell that the public sector values nursing care.

What do you want to do to ensure that there is plenty of demand for new study places?
It is essential to create ideal conditions for students. This campus offers a unique opportunity: centrally located in the city, next to the River Mürz and with the right infrastructure. We have also planned four skill labs. These are rooms with hospital beds where work on patients is taught in a very practice-oriented way. At our open day, we saw that there is a lot of interest in the course. And we are working hard to boost demand even further.

How can students in this field in particular be prepared for the real world?
The concept of a university of applied sciences is to combine practical orientation with a theoretical foundation in the course. This manifests itself in several ways: on the one hand, we have a large number of external lecturers, such as doctors or nursing service managers, so that students have a connection to practice and reality right from the start. Secondly, this is combined with practical, science-based training in the skills labs - directly on the mannequin, for example. In addition, the students complete over 2000 hours of work placements, particularly in hospitals and facilities here in Upper Styria. A study was recently carried out to find out where nursing graduates end up in their future careers: More than 90 percent of graduates went into nursing within a very short time of completing their studies.