Christoph Badelt Appointed President of the Fiscal Advisory Council

In his first statement on Twitter, Badelt thanked the Federal Government for its confidence in him. "In my function as head of WIFO, I have always emphasised that after the COVID-19 crisis, it is necessary to gradually shift the focus back to responsible and sustainable management of our public finances", Badelt said.

The 70-year-old is an economist by training and professor emeritus of economics and social policy at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. His work initially focussed on social policy and non-profit organisations. He has written numerous publications in books and journals. From 2002 until 2015 he was Rector of WU Vienna. For five years he also was Chairman of Universities Austria (Austrian Rectors' Conference). During his time as a Rector he did not only acquire significant experience in higher education management, but also was heavily engaged in higher education policies. In 2015, he returned to his original position as professor at the Institute for Economic and Social Policy at WU.

In 2016, Badelt also become Director of the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (WIFO), the largest non-university economic research institute in Austria. Due to his experience in social and economic policy, in non-profit management and in university and research policy, Christoph Badelt is a member of numerous Austrian public policy advisory committees and in policy consulting. He also serves in international advisory boards of universities in various countries. He has been active in international institutions dealing with accreditation matters (e.g., EFMD, AACSB), especially for business universities. In this role, he has chaired numerous evaluation teams for business universities in all parts of the world.