Vocational Education and Training in Austria

Representation of the social partners on governing bodies, collegiate bodies and committees

As stated elsewhere, State education boards are the federal bodies responsible at regional level for vocational schools for apprentices and secondary technical and vocational schools and colleges. Each State education board is composed of a president, a collegiate body of ordinary members and the chief education officer. Under the Federal Schools Inspectorate Act, representatives of the social partners are required to be advisory members of the collegiate bodies.

Attention should also be drawn to the so-called expanded school partnerships which are required under the Organisation of Schooling Act to promote the close contact needed between schools in the vocational sector and the business community. This cooperation can be brought about by means of committees attached to schools which include representatives of the social partners among their membership.

The social partners' possibilities of influence also extend to the teacher training carried out at the federal academies preparing teachers for service in vocational education. The Organisation of Schooling Act stipulates that the chamber of commerce and industry and the chamber of labour of the federal state concerned are to be represented by one member each, in an advisory capacity, on the governing bodies of these teacher training institutions.

Apprenticeship centres (Lehrlingsstellen) as first-instance vocational training authorities

The apprenticeship centres attached to the chambers of commerce and industry also serve as first-instance vocational training authorities. They are an example illustrating that statutory bodies representing social partner interests can act as decision-making administrative bodies. The activities of the social partners here are based on powers which are partly original and partly delegated. The establishment of the apprenticeship centres signified the delegation of certain State responsibilities to the chambers of commerce and industry; in discharging these delegated responsibilities, apprenticeship agencies are subject to State instruction and the line of institutional command. Apprenticeship centres are federal agencies and indirect elements of the federal administration, i.e. examples of State powers being exercised through the non-governmental institutions to which they are attached.

The apprenticeship centres are supported in their work by the apprenticeship and youth welfare units of the chambers of labour. Mandated to defend the interests of apprentices, the main tasks of these units are to monitor the training provided by employers and to appoint delegates to important bodies responsible for apprenticeship.

Advisory councils on vocational training as advisors to the administrative authorities

Counselling the administrative authorities in vocational training matters is a task incumbent on the Federal Advisory Council on Vocational Training (Bundesberufsausbildungsbeirat) and its regional counterparts at Federal State level. A characteristic feature of Austria's Initial Vocational Training Act is that the regulations governing the various apprenticeship occupations are not published by the Minister of Economics until after the views of the social partners have been sought and submitted in the form of an expert opinion drawn up by the Federal Advisory Council on Vocational Training. The initiative to revise such training regulations normally comes from the social partners, and their content is usually drawn up by the Federal Advisory Council on Vocational Training. The Advisory Council is also empowered to submit reports and proposals to the federal education authorities on all matters relating to vocational training provision regulated by the Initial Vocational Training Act. This means that in all such cases the Advisory Council can itself take the initiative or respond to requests from the Federal Minister of Economics or the federal education authorities.

The Federal Advisory Council on Vocational Training is attached to the Austrian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Its twelve voting members are appointed by the Federal Minister of Economics on the basis of nominations sought - in equal numbers - from the Austrian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Federal Chamber of Labour. Two additional members participate in an advisory capacity: they are teachers in vocational education who are appointed by the Minister of Economics on the basis of nominations from the Ministry of Education.

The corresponding regional institutions at federal state level are the State advisory councils on vocational training (Landesberufsausbildungsbeirate), which are attached to their respective apprenticeship centre and are composed of four voting members. The members are appointed by the chief executive officer of the Federal State concerned on the basis of nominations sought in equal numbers from the regional chamber of commerce and industry and the regional chamber of labour. State advisory councils on vocational training advise the apprenticeship centres on implementing delegated tasks and are also required to draw up reports and proposals on training measures within the framework of a training network at federal state level and on financial support schemes to accompany vocational training.

The role of the social partners in apprenticeship extends finally to the organisation of examinations. Under the Initial Vocational Training Act, the social partners are alone entitled to draw up proposals for the composition of the examination boards for final apprenticeship examinations and training aptitude examinations. The chairman of an examination board is appointed for a five-year term of office by the chief executive officer of the Federal State (Landeshauptmann) concerned on the basis of a proposal from the State advisory council on vocational training. The other members are appointed by the apprenticeship centre on the basis of lists of nominations specific to each examination date. The lists of nominations to serve on the examination boards for the various apprenticeship occupations are drawn up jointly by the apprenticeship centre after consultation with the appropriate section of the chamber of commerce and industry on the one hand and by the chamber of labour on the other. The appointments are for a five-year term of office.

Training aptitude examinations are held before examination boards which are convened by the chief executive officer of the Federal State concerned. Each board of examiners is composed of a chairman and two ordinary members who are appointed in a manner similar to that applicable to examiners for the final apprenticeship examinations.

Further stipulations concerning cooperation between the social partners in vocational training matters at individual company level are laid down in the Employment Constitution Act.

For initial vocational training in the agriculture and forestry sector, the employers' and workers' organisations have analogous social partner functions within the agriculture and forestry apprenticeship and training centres which serve as firstinstance vocational training authorities in this sector.

As the organisers of study programmes at specialised institutes of higher education (Fachhochschulen) may be legal entities in either public or private law, the social partners are in a position to organise such programmes themselves. Additionally, the social partners can exert a direct influence on the council responsible for these specialised institutes insofar as four of its members are appointed subsequent to nomination by the Advisory Council on Economic and Social Affairs.

With the consultation process duly completed, the new University Education Act has been in force since summer 1997. To ensure that extra-university bodies, in particular the social partners, are involved in the decision-making process in the areas of study covered by universities, representatives of management and labour have been granted a right to be heard during that process.

EMP/SKILLS - Skills and Employability Department