The ibw runs the BIC (job information computer), an online medium of the Austrian Economic Chambers. With approximately 180,000 visitors and 570,000 job calls per year, it is among the most frequently accessed online job information tools in Austria. Between January and August 2006, an online survey on the BIC was carried out – we have the first interesting results.

-          BIC - BerufsInformationsComputer

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You are trainer or educator and interested in specific topics of apprenticeship training? The newly designed web page www.ausbilder.at gives you plenty of opportunities to get information …

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The countdown for the national pre-selection for the job championship of 2007, the biggest and most important international competition in the field of job training, is in full speed. Competition in the qualifiers that are presently held in 42 countries worldwide is tough, for only one team or participant will be allowed to represent their country in their profession.

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Since November 2006, the AMS qualification barometer has been online again in an updated version. The system, which has now existed for almost five years was not just brushed up in its design; its content was considerably improved on the basis of two evaluation studies.

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Over the last years, the ibw (institute for research on qualifications and training of the Austrian economy) has become an important contact partner for questions in the field of job-oriented foreign language acquisition. Research reports have been published, and products have been developed which can be used in the fields of first and further education and training. Three new products have just been presented.

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An assumption: an Austrian apprentice in his or her third year does four months of his/her training in Finland. In return, a Finnish apprentice comes over to Austria for the same period of time. The competences they acquire in the respective, foreign country are fully acknowledged in the home country. The duration of the apprenticeship is not prolonged by this stay abroad.

In order to realize such a “European Training and Working Area”, it takes procedures and instruments that help create transparency and comprehensibility.

Between October 2003 and September 2006, the ibw was a partner in the Leonardo da Vinci project VQTS (Vocational Qualification Transfer System). There, a procedure was developed to make competences visible, and it was trial run in the mechatronics area.

The procedure was presented to the public as part of an event hosted by the Austrian Economic Chamber on 27 September 2006.

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According to the 2001 census, 17 per cent of all 20 to 24 year-olds do not have upper secondary education, i.e., they have only gone through compulsory schooling. The ibw carried out a survey among these youths which was commissioned by the AMS Austria (Labour Market Service), and was made as part of an extensive joint study on youths without job qualification with the öibf. Its results allow a detailed view on how this group is structured, as well as their education and labour market integration. Emphasis was placed on analysing education drop-outs, experience with education advice and job information, as well as the existing competences and strengths which can be developed further.

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Roughly one third of all businesses in Austria are run by women.

• Do women and men differ in their way of founding companies?
• Do firms that were set up by women differ in their structure from those that were founded by men?
• Do women found more carefully and modest?
• Do women have less seed capital at their disposal?
• Can there be seen differences in how loans are granted to men and women?
• How do basic parameters such as family responsibility influence female founding behaviour?

The ibw pursues these questions and many more in an online survey among entrepreneurs which is carried out in the course of the EQUAL project “Alternative – Entrepreneurship”, partly sponsored by the European Social Fund and the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Labour. The main focus of the analysis of the almost 3000 sets of data lies on the characteristics of women’s businesses and their special needs in the founding phase on the one hand, and company financing –especially small loan financing- on the other hand.

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“Economic education is an essential part of general education” – the 16 federal German ministers of education declared in 2001. Yet, international comparative studies show at the same time that the economic knowledge of students is rather deficient. Some even speak of “economic dyslexia” among considerable numbers of students. The major deficits and gaps seem to exist in “international economy”.

For this reason, the ibw set up its own test battery as part of the go international initiative of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Labour and the Austrian Economic Chamber, so as to assess for the very first time the knowledge of international economy graduates from upper secondary level schooling have.

The test results show that many graduates of upper secondary level in Austria only have mediocre knowledge in this field. Especially middle school students often have too little knowledge of these processes.

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As part of the LEONARDO DA VINCI programme, the ibw carries out the research project “Quali-VET - quality development and assurance for job training in the metalworking industry, with a view on the labour market” together with project partners in renown research and education institutions in Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and the Czech Republic.

The project among other things includes developing and testing instruments to boost the quality of job training in the metal sector. A first interim report on the status quo of quality assurance and development in job training in the metal sector in the participating countries will soon be available in English.

For more information and results regarding this research project, please consult www.qualivet.info. For further information, Mag. Helmut Dornmayr (dornmayr@ibw.at) will be happy to help.

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