The Academy of Fine Arts’ rector was elected president of Universities Austria on December 11th, 2017.
Blimlinger is the second woman after Sonja Hammerschmid to chair the Conference of Rectors and Universities since the Conference was established.
For the first time in its 107-year history the board of the Austrian universities is chaired by a rector of a university of the arts.
Eva Blimlinger studied German language and literature and history (teacher training) and was equal opportunities officer of Universities Austria’s predecessor, the Rectors' Conference, from November 1991 to August 1992. Afterwards, Blimlinger was the head of the public relations office at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. She became publicly known in her function as research coordinator of the Historian Commission of the Republic of Austria. In 2004 she became head of the Department for Project Coordination and Process Management Arts and Research Funding at the University of Applied Arts. In 2011 she became the rector of the Academy of Fine Arts, her term of office runs until 2019.