Grant for funding CVET of employees in Salzburg
The funding of individual costs for continuing vocational training through public subsidies has been firmly established in Austria for decades — in line with the responsibility for funding employees at the level of the federal states. The state of Salzburg introduced a corresponding instrument back in 1998 with the Salzburger Bildungsscheck (engl. Salzburg Training Voucher), which aims to increase participation in adult learning. Between 5,000 and 6,000 applications for the grant are submitted each year. The current evaluative project focused on developments in the years 2018 to 2023 and analysed the successes and challenges of the grant to date. The comparison of the instrument design with similar funding instruments in Austria and internationally, particularly in Germany, made it possible to identify specific features. The analysis included the administrative database, the results of an online survey of recipients and contextual discussions with experts. Building on this, approaches were developed for the further development and fine-tuning of the design of the Salzburger Bildungsscheck.
As it turned out, the target groups addressed, especially people with low or intermediate educational qualifications, are well reached throughout the province. The objectives of the Salzburg 2030 Labour and Skilled Workers Strategy are supported with specific focal points. The survey not only showed an extremely high level of satisfaction with the administrative handling of the funding, but also clear effects on participation in CVET, especially for women, people who are working towards qualifications such as the higher education entrance exams, master craftsmen or qualification examinations and also for those who attend German as a second language courses.
Read more about the results of the project carried out by Günter Hefler and Eva Steinheimer in the final report.
image by Tourismus Salzbrug
Contact: Eva Steinheimer
Client: Land Salzburg