Austria: implementation of higher VET Act picks up speed

Background

VET is highly valued in Austria. Around three quarters of all learners complete VET programmes at upper secondary level and acquire qualifications allowing them to enter the labour market directly. As part of their practical work, these skilled workers continuously expand their skills and are able to take on management and leadership roles thanks to their professional experience. So far, however, these skills have remained largely invisible – for example they are rarely recognised through formal certification.

At the same time, higher education qualifications exert a certain pull on the workforce, largely driven by their positive public perception. To date, advanced skills have primarily been visible through the acquisition of qualifications at higher education level (bachelor, master, PhD). Although these programmes also offer vocational content, they are often not optimally tailored in terms of content and time to skilled workers who want to deepen and expand their informally acquired skills and make them more visible. In addition, they usually require a university entrance qualification, which they might not obtain as it is not required for accessing VET qualifications at the intermediate level.

Objective

Higher VET seeks to fill this gap by providing the economy with the ‘right mix’ of skilled workers. The practical vocational area is set to be upgraded and recognised as an independent educational segment of equal status as higher education. The skills acquired through professional practice, which are complemented by courses and training, are to be given greater visibility and recognition through certification. This approach should make higher VET qualifications attractive and increase the appeal of IVET as a key entry pathway.

The HBB Act 

The HBB Act of May 2024 forms the basis for the introduction of new higher VET qualifications. It enables skilled workers with an intermediate qualification at NQF level 4 to obtain occupation-specific higher qualifications and have their skills formally recognised. This provides this target group, without the need of holding a general higher education entrance qualifications, access to higher VET. The qualification is obtained through a three-part validation and examination process: a written examination, an oral examination, and a practical examination to determine whether the learning outcomes specified in the validation and examination regulations have been achieved. The respective regulations also specify the requirements that candidates must meet to be admitted to the examination. Additional courses may be provided to help candidates prepare for the examination.

The new qualification designations are:

• Extended Professional Qualification (HBQ), NQF 5
• Professional Certificate (FD), NQF 6
• Advanced Professional Certificate (HFD), NQF 7

Existing higher VET qualifications, such as the master craftsperson or engineer qualifications, continue to be regulated by their own laws, but are part of the HBB education segment.

First HBB qualification 

The law has encouraged numerous industry representatives to develop new HBB qualifications. The first qualification, the ‘HBQ technical consulting for energy efficiency’, can be acquired as of September 2025. It is in the area of ‘green skills’, which is explicitly listed as a target area for qualifications in the HBB Act.

The development of this qualification also involved testing the procedure set out in the law and the interaction between the relevant stakeholders. The findings were incorporated into ‘guidelines’ that can now be used for future development work.

Next steps

The regulation of the first qualification marks an important milestone. However, many more steps are needed to bring this new education segment to life. These particularly include making HBB more visible in the Austrian education system. Moving forward, the practical vocational segment should be recognised as the ‘second pillar’ of higher education alongside the academic sector. HBB qualifications should be incorporated in the official education statistics to measure the strength and impact of this segment accurately.

Read more

• Federal Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism: Höhere Berufliche Bildung [Higher Vocational Education and Training]. (in German only)  
• Bundesgesetzblatt für die Republik Österreich. HBB-act 2024. (in German only)  
• Leitfaden zur Entwicklung neuer HBB-Qualifikationen [Guidelines for developing new HBB qualifications] (in German only):
• ReferNet Austria; Cedefop (2020). Does Austria need a ‘higher vocational education and training’ education segment? National news on VET.
• Tritscher-Archan, S.; Hassek-Eder, E (2025). Höhere berufliche Bildung in Österreich. Hintergrund, Anforderungen, Erwartungen [Higher VET in Austria. Background, requirements, expectations] (in German only). In: BWP 54 (2025) 1, p. 50-51.