Digital Skills in Focus

Training provision and training providers in the area of digital skills in Austria. A study conducted by 3s offers an overview of the Austrian CVET market related to digital skills. 

In autumn 2024, the Austrian Framework of Reference for Digital Competence (NRDK) was adopted with the goal to promote a shared under­stan­ding of digital com­pe­ten­ces. This framework provides a struc­tu­red model, cate­go­ri­zing digital skills across various domains and pro­fi­ci­en­cy levels, related to the European Union Digital Competence Framework for Citizens (DigComp). In pre­pa­ra­ti­on for its imple­men­ta­ti­on, the Digital Competences Office affi­lia­ted to the OeAD com­mis­sio­ned a study in spring 2024 to gather foun­da­tio­nal infor­ma­ti­on on non-formal con­ti­nuing education courses related to digi­ta­li­sa­ti­on. The study also aimed to document the chal­lenges and approa­ches asso­cia­ted with mapping related courses to the NRDK framework.

One of the study’s objec­ti­ves was to estimate the scope and structure of Austria’s non-formal con­ti­nuing education offerings in digi­ta­li­sa­ti­on. However, this task was com­pli­ca­ted by limited sta­tis­ti­cal data and the absence of a com­pre­hen­si­ve database covering the full range of available pro­gram­mes. To address these limi­ta­ti­ons, the analysis relied on a large sample drawn from various databases. The project also explored the clas­si­fi­ca­ti­on and cate­go­ri­sa­ti­on of non-formal digital skills training within the context of the NRDK, testing the framework with practical examples. The insights gained from this process are intended to inform the ongoing imple­men­ta­ti­on and refi­ne­ment of the framework.

The final report detailing the findings and recom­men­da­ti­ons from this project is available here.