Career Paths

Egger Wood Processing, Ltd.

Antonia Bucksch is doing her professional internship at Egger, one of the world's leading chipboard manufacturers, at the headquarters in St. Johann in Tyrol. She is assigned to the Raw Material Management and Product Sustainability department. Her task is to revise and renew the environmental and health data sheets. "These sheets inform customers about where they can use the material and its impact on their building certificates."

What Antonia Bucksch benefits most from in her internship are the lessons learned in lectures on sustainability management and the practical projects, where she acquired the basics for her responsibilities and tasks at Egger. "Although much is familiar, it also feels very new, and I find it fascinating how quickly you get settled in just a week."

For Antonia Bucksch, sustainability is essential and intrinsically connected with her personal values and commitment. After graduating high school, the combined Energy & Sustainability Management program caught her attention because it is not narrowly focused but covers several subject areas in this forward-thinking field. "In addition, however, the university's location in Kufstein alone, being so beautifully situated in the mountains, already provides ample motivation to choose to study here."

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Porsche AG

David Nagele managed to secure a placement for his internship at Porsche AG in Zuffenhausen, near Stuttgart, Germany. There, he is involved in two projects related to internal mobility management. The major project, "Fleet 2.0," aims to make fleet management more efficient. As part of this project, the student gets to apply agile project management and processes in accordance with Scrum and SAFe. Additionally, he is working on a new training concept for the mobility platform. David Nagele feels well-prepared for his internship tasks thanks to his study subjects like Innovative Mobility Concepts and Project and Innovation Management.

And what does David say about his internship? "The opportunities at Porsche and the insights and experiences gained here are super cool – moreover, it's fascinating to see how such a huge project progresses." In addition, he appreciates the hands-on experience and insights gained into different working methods and areas of mobility. He truly enjoys working in his flexible, friendly, and young team. Even though in the future, he plans to work in the field of renewable energy, the internship helps him clearly identify his preferences and strengths. David is passionate about sustainability and is highly motivated in his degree program, Energy & Sustainability Management; he wants to contribute to shaping a livable planet.

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University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tirol

Katharina Kopp started working as a research assistant for the University of Applied Sciences (FH) Kufstein Tirol during her 3rd semester, a semester abroad, back then in a micro and nanobiology lab in Korea. She enjoyed it so much that she has since been working on various projects at FH Kufstein, from circular economy and life cycle analysis to demonstration plants for facade-integrated photovoltaics.

Kathie supports Energy and Sustainability Management students during her practical semester in various innovation management projects. She also supervises the Practical Project 'Sustainability Week.' Kathie is an organizational talent and says, "I like Sustainability Week because it's so diverse and complex."

"Classes like Innovation Management, Environmental and Sustainability Audit, Mobility Management, and Sustainability Management were great and fun; as a result, the studies felt easy," says Kathie. For her, empirical work and working with Python are important because they enable you to evaluate data properly. Moreover, she has found it to be quite enriching to engage with subjects that she might not have felt drawn to initially. She appreciates that they provide useful tools and research methods and enable you to gain a good overview.

In her free time, Kathie is also committed to sustainability and organizes, for instance, an international youth exchange on the topic of Global Climate Justice. Lessons learned in classes such as project management often come into play. After completing her Bachelor's degree, Katharina Kopp definitely wants to pursue a Master's degree – to become an expert in the topics that interest her and qualify to teach this knowledge to others. When asked about her career plans, she says, "I can see myself in the teaching and research sector."

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Stadtwerke Kufstein

While studying, Simon Spilka works part-time at Stadtwerke Kufstein in the back office of customer consulting. He is responsible for handling more specific inquiries in the field of photovoltaics, such as preliminary considerations. He also manages the origin-proof database.

Simon Spilka chose this position because he is generally interested in photovoltaics and is especially intrigued by energy communities. He sees great potential for himself to learn and grow in this role.

In the future, Simon Spilka envisions deepening his knowledge acquired in the Energy & Sustainability Management Bachelor's degree program by enrolling in a technical Master's program and eventually working in the technical development of photovoltaic technologies.

"What's particularly cool about my degree program is that the Kufstein location is really great because everything is available here. Mountains, lakes, a small town where you can move freely." He's also enthusiastic about the fact that FH Kufstein is a small and personal university where people cultivate great relationships, including with peers and staff from the study program itself. "You do not feel anonymous," says Simon Spilka.

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