New names, clearer academic profiles, and greater external visibility: Hof University of Applied Sciences is restructuring its faculties effective October 1, 2026. Under the new bylaws approved by the University Council, two faculties will be renamed and several degree programs will be reassigned to different academic areas. The goal is to support the academic development of the faculties, sharpen their profiles, and make the university’s key focus areas even more visible in the future. Health is set to be a strategic priority moving forward.
“With the new faculty structure, we are creating the organizational conditions necessary to further develop our university’s academic profiles and make them even more visible to the outside world. This is explicitly about more than just new names: We want to pool expertise in a more targeted manner, promote interdisciplinary collaboration, and align our academic and research programs with the challenges of the future,” explains Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Lehmann, President of Hof University of Applied Sciences.
Engineering Sciences to Be Supplemented by Applied Design
Effective October 1, 2026, the current Faculty of Engineering will become the “Faculty of Engineering and Applied Design.” This change will make the growing importance of the connection between technical development, design, and application-oriented design visible at the organizational level as well. The Communication Design program at the Münchberg campus will be assigned to this faculty in the future. The faculty will continue to be led by Dean Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anke Müller.
Health and Society as a New Focus
The former Faculty of Interdisciplinary and Innovative Sciences, headed by Dean Prof. Dr. Matthias Drossel, will be renamed “Health and Society.” The new name is intended to make the faculty’s academic profile more clearly recognizable to the outside world while also supporting the strategic further development of the topics it encompasses. In the future, the degree programs in Business Psychology, Applied Psychology, and Business and Organizational Sociology will be assigned to this faculty.
“This will bring together expertise related to people, health, society, and organizations more closely within a shared academic profile. Our goal is to significantly strengthen and expand the general field of health in the future.”
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Lehmann, University President
A new degree program in “Social Work” is also planned. From a strategic perspective, this represents the logical next step following the changes made to the academic offerings in recent years. Following the successful establishment of the degree programs in Business Psychology and Business and Organizational Sociology, “Social Work” will then make it possible to create a broad spectrum of behavioral science courses while simultaneously meeting the high demand for skilled professionals in the region.
Strategic Development as a Collaborative Process
The reorganization is part of a broader strategic process at Hof University. At its core is a development concept developed over the past few months—including the accompanying strategy papers for teaching, research, and administration. Numerous members of the university community were involved in its creation. “A university must continuously evolve. With our new development concept, we have created a strategic foundation for this. The changes now approved are an important building block on this path. It is particularly important to me that we shape this process together with the university community and bring together our expertise in teaching, research, and administration,” said University President Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Lehmann.
Clear Profiles for a University in Transition
With this reorganization, the university leadership is pursuing an overarching goal: the faculties are to highlight their respective academic strengths even more clearly while also becoming more closely interconnected. The new names are intended not only to reflect organizational changes but also to make the university’s academic focus and future prospects visible to the outside world.
The new constitution and the associated organizational changes will take effect on October 1, 2026.
