Higher Vocational Education and Training in Austria — The Challenge of Classification

There has been intensive discussion in Austria about new forms of higher vocational education and training for a while. A recently published study deals with the possibilities of classifying the qualifications to be acquired.

Establishing “Higher Vocational Education and Training” (Higher VET) — providing voca­tio­nal qua­li­fi­ca­ti­ons at higher levels outside higher education — as an inde­pen­dent education segment also requires a clear syste­ma­tisa­ti­on of an area that is cha­rac­te­ri­sed by the diversity of offers and providers. To make HBB training and qua­li­fi­ca­ti­ons more visible and to anchor them in national and inter­na­tio­nal education sta­tis­tics, an appro­pria­te clas­si­fi­ca­ti­on is needed. Central to this is the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), which faci­li­ta­tes the inter­na­tio­nal com­pa­ri­son of edu­ca­tio­nal qualifications.

The focus of the study now published, which was com­mis­sio­ned by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Economic Affairs and prepared by Kurt Schmid (ibw) and Karin Luomi-Messerer (3s), is the question of which criteria are required by ISCED in order to classify training and qua­li­fi­ca­ti­ons in Higher VET appro­pria­te­ly and com­ple­te­ly. Particular chal­lenges arise from the fact that some (future) pro­gram­mes and qua­li­fi­ca­ti­ons in Higher VET belong to the non-formal education sector. The study analyses which framing and which data and infor­ma­ti­on quality both formal and non-formal Higher VET must have in order to be clas­si­fi­ed in ISCED. A look at the clas­si­fi­ca­ti­on pro­ce­du­res and approa­ches in countries with already estab­lished Higher VET, such as Switzerland, Germany and France, com­ple­ments the national findings with valuable insights into design and imple­men­ta­ti­on options.