Higher Education and Graduate Employment in Austria

Abstract

Structure and Development of Higher EducationPost-secondary education is divided into two sectors: institutions with university status, and those with a lower formal rank. The first includes 18 universities (12 regular universities and 6 universities of the arts). The second includes teacher training colleges (for all teachers except high school teachers) and several Fachhochschulstudien, established in 1994±95.In 1997±98 there were 187,053 Austrian and 25,194 foreign students enrolled in the universities, 4,341 Austrian and 2,552 foreign students enrolled in the Colleges of Art and Music (BMWV, 1998) and 5,608 students enrolled in specialised courses for applied studies (Fachhochschulstudien). There were 8,689 students at the eight public and six private (run by the Catholic Church) teacher training colleges. The academies for vocational and religious education and other colleges had a total of nearly 10,000 students, some of whom were attending courses that did not require graduation from high school.In 1965, the University of Vienna celebrated its 600th anniversary. The University of Graz was founded more than 400 years ago. When the youngest university was established in Klagenfurt in 1970, the number of universities increased to 12. Since 1994±95, a growing number of specialist colleges (Fachhochschule) and the so-called Danube University, which is a post-graduate institution, have formed part of the higher education system.According to the statistics for 1955±56, only 21,093 students were enrolled at Austrian universities, one-fifth (4,319) of whom were women. Of these, 6,674 were studying at the University of Vienna. The overall number of students at all universities has increased more than tenfold in the last four decades and the number of women students has increased 25 times (O È StZ, 1997, p. 52f.). Higher Education Reforms in the 1990sIn 1993, Parliament passed the Universita È ts-Organisations-Gesetz 1993 (UOG '93). It replaced the law of 1975, which followed on from that of 1955. Its implementation took place in three stages. The first was the restructuring of seven of the twelve universities by the beginning of 1998. In 1993, the federal law on courses at the Fachhochschule was also passed. By 1996±97, which was the year of the first graduations from such courses, over 30 Fachhochschul courses had been introduced.

Higher education in Romania: Evolution and views from the business community

“…It is common to hear that there is a discrepancy between competencies acquired in education and those required in the 'real life'. In Austria a similar study revealed that graduates lacked competencies such as: leading others, creative thinking, problem solving and communication skills (Kellerman & Sagmeister 2000), similar to a great extent to the findings of the study conducted in Romania. The ideal higher education system in Romania would have the strengths of both institutional types, state and private, and would be more practically oriented.…”

The Correlation between Tracer Study and Curriculum Relevance

“…For instance, literature and linguistics graduates working in banks, or economics graduates who works as a programmer. Kellerman and Sagmeister [2] stated that it can be caused by the fact that the university system has distance with the needs of stakeholders so that indicators of study success cannot anticipate the competencies of graduates or the working world may not be well organized. Therefore, graduate skills cannot be utilized efficiently (under utilization), or the another possibility is graduates have abilities that exceed the competency requirements in the working world (over qualification).…”

Relevant Analysis of Competence of Diploma III Culinary with Industrial Needs

“…The reality that occurs is: the ability of graduates does not meet the standards set byindustry. Higher education system has a distance from the world of work so that indicators of study success cannot anticipate graduate competencies that are in line with the demands of the workforce [5].…”