The Austrian apprenticeship with part-time vocational schooling

24.11.2007

The Austrian apprentice training system consists of hands-on trainings in enterprises along with related theoretical knowledge taught at vocational schools. Thus, the apprentice enters two legal contracts: on the one hand the apprentice is a trainee of a company and on the other hand he or she is a student of a vocational school. Generally, the theoretical part comes to ten weeks a year.

Yearly about 130,000 apprentices are being trained in one of the 300 different professions or craftsmanship. The trainings last between a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4 years.

About 40% of the pupils in Austria decide to enter an apprenticeship after ending the mandatory school, which is around the age of 16 after 9 school years. These youths can acquire a complete professional qualification in one of the 39,000 companies that offer apprenticeship opportunities.

Consequently is apprenticeship fundamental in delivering highly qualified craftsmen for the Austrian economy. At the same time it promotes the idea of entrepreneurship. About 50% of the Austrian entrepreneurs have established their own companies after an apprenticeship, whereas only 8% of the entrepreneurs have a university degree.

This dual apprentice training system in Austria helps to prevent a high unemployment rate of the youth in contrast to the other member countries of the EU. The average unemployment rate of the youth in the 25 EU member countries is currently around 15%. In Austria the same rate amounts to 7,1%.

In spite of a generally positive situation the Austrian apprenticeship system faces great challenges: On the one hand there has been a slowly rising number of apprenticeship opportunities within the enterprises. The reason can be found in a stagnating economy and thus unwillingness and fear of many companies to invest in apprentices who might leave the company after the completion of their qualification. On the other hand the image of an apprenticeship is deteriorating. More and more pupils are attracted to achieve a high school degree. In some professions training quality is poor. There are some business sections that suffer from lack of qualified workers. Their demand cannot be satisfied with the decreasing numbers of apprentices.

In times of high competition by countries with a low wage system, global market development and new technologies which come along with restructuring of business procedures, companies face great challenges. In addition to direct investments in R&D companies have to invest in their human capital, namely training and further education of their employees in order to be competitive internationally.

The “Everest Principle”©, an innovative training philosophy for companies, which put their quality of services and their customers into the center of their attention, deals with this issue. The Everest Principle© is based on the Austrian guidelines and rules for apprenticeship and consists of 8 basic rules and 8 general statements. The most important objectives of the new training philosophy are:

1. The unique quality of the training shall be regarded as the prior objective within the enterprise,

2. The involvement of the apprentices shall be regarded as an important element of the inner-business community.

3. Trainer and apprentice shall be motivated to create a more successful training atmosphere,

4. Apprentice and trainer shall be supported to maintain a high quality of customer services.

There already is an appropriate tool to achieve a leading position in a market, namely the dual training system. It has only to be used successfully. The Everest Principle© shows you the way. The Everest Principle© helps you to create a unique training system within your company.

You can also use the Everest Principle© for trainings abroad in spite of different legal environments. If you might have any questions regarding the Austrian training system or the Everest Principle© please contact me at: autor@everest-prinzip.com. I will try to be of assistance as good as I can.

With best regards, Karl Zaunschirm - 2007

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