Learning account of Upper Austria

PDF Version
Name of the instrument - Local language
Bildungskonto Oberösterreich
Name of the instrument - English translation
Learning account of Upper Austria
Scheme ID
8
Country
Austria
Reporting year
2015
Type of instrument
Grant for individuals
Type of entry
Example for a group of instruments
Short description

Beneficiaries of this scheme include all types of learners (employees, persons with parental leave benefit, persons on parental leave, marginally employed, unemployed, self-employed, entrepreneurs with a maximum of 5 employees) as long as they are residents of Upper Austria. However, only adults without higher education entrance exam ("Matura") as highest form of education are eligible. There are exceptions for university graduates with gross income of less than EUR 2 200 per month. The co-funding share is 50% of the costs for training and education.

The nine Austrian Regions (Bundesländer) provide further education grants for adults. These grants represent a significant part of the public investment in adult learning for employed on regional level (beyond funding within the active labour market policy). The amounts of funding available and the criteria for eligible groups and educational programs differ widely between Regions. For groups enjoying preferential treatment (for example, low qualified adults) and for particular educational programmes (for example, preparation courses for the final apprenticeship examination), funding up EUR 3 700 and up to 100 per cent of the course fees is available in some Regions. Available support is much more generous in some Regions (for example, Vienna or Upper Austria) than in others. While the Regions’ role in co-funding adult learning has become a stable feature of the institutional landscape since the mid of the 1990ies, individual funding schemes are subject to frequent changes. Various data bases are available informing on the currently available support schemes (www.kursfoerderung.at). There is no regular statistical reporting available; according to the latest available estimate, around 45 000 adults benefit from the support schemes by the Austrian Regions each year, receiving public co-funding of an estimated EUR 40 million.

Level of operation
Regional
Name of a part of the country
nap
Name of the region (for regional instruments)
Upper Austria
Name of the sector (for sectoral instruments)
nap
Relevance
Key scheme

Decision of the government of Upper Austria

Objective(s) and target(s)

To advance employment and improve personal skills of individuals

Year of implementation
1994
Year of latest amendment
2015
Operation/management

Office of the Upper Austrian government, Department Education and Society, governs, administers and takes responsibility for the whole scheme.
Responsible for monitoring/evaluation: IBE, Landesrechnungshof OÖ (Audit Court Upper Austria).

Eligible group(s)

Residents of Upper Austria only: employees, persons with parental leave benefit, persons on parental leave, women on maternity benefit, registered returners,
marginally employed persons with unemployment or on emergency benefit, freelance workers,
self-employed
entrepreneurs with a maximum of 5 emploes. Only those with maximum higher education entrance exam ("Matura") are elegible, except for university graduates with gross income less than 2.200 per month.

Group(s) with preferential treatment

Persons without any formal degree, persons with parental leave benefit, persons in parental leave, registered returners, women on maternity benefit

Education and training eligible

Professionally oriented further training and re-training

Source of financing and collection mechanism

Upper Austria budget
matching: individual

Financing formula and allocation mechanisms

Co-funding: 50 % of the costs for education and training up to a maximum amount of EUR 2 000 (preferential treatment: 70% up to EUR 2 400) in period 1 January 2015 - 31 December 2018.
If limit of reimbursement is reached, the next account can be claimed in 2019.
Individuals may be granted more than 1 ILA per year, as long as the limit of reimbursement is not reached.

Allocation: money is transferred to a learner's individual bank account.

Eligible costs

Fees only

Frequency of the use

Specific rules/conditions for reuse

Volumes of funding

In 2014, the budget of this scheme was EUR 9 500 000.

Beneficiaries/take up

In 2014, the training activities for 17 831 individuals were funded by the scheme. 9 807 (55%) of them were women. An age breakdown shows that 886 beneficiaries were 20 years or younger, 4 096 between 21 and 25, 3 241 between 26 and 30, 2 527 between 31 and 35, 1 953 between 36 and 40, 1 842 between 41 and 45, 1 645 between 46 and 50, 1 112 between 51 and 55, 411 between 56 and 60; 68 had no age specification.

Organisation responsible for monitoring/evaluation

Office of the Upper Austrian Government, Department Education and Society.

Monitoring/evaluation reports available

Oberösterreichischer Landesrechnungshof (2009) Bildungskonto des Landes Oö. Initi-ativprüfung (Bericht). Linz (online https://www.lrh-ooe.at/_files/downloads/berichte/2009/IP_Bildungskonto_… letzter Zugriff: 9 Juli 2012).
Oberösterreichischer Landesrechnungshof (2010): Folgeprüfung - Bildungskonto des Landes Oö. Linz (https://www.lrh-ooe.at/_files/downloads/berichte/2010/FP_Bildungskonto_…, letzter Zugriff: 9. Juli 2012).

Most relevant webpage - in English

www.cedefop.europa.eu%2Ffiles%2F5192_en.pdf&ei=6XXTVKCqM8XLaNyXgZgG&usg…

Most relevant webpage - local language

http://www.land-oberoesterreich.gv.at/cps/rde/xchg/ooe/hs.xsl/24636_DEU…

Sources

https://www.land-oberoesterreich.gv.at/24636.htm

http://www.eduresearch.at/fileadmin/DAM/Innovation/Bildungsforschung/Bi…

Amt der Oö. Landesregierung (2011). Ausbildungen für Berufstätige in Oberösterreich. Linz.

Land Oberösterreich (2011) Lebensbegleitendes Lernen – LLL - Strategie Oberösterreich: Impulse & Ziele für Erwachsenenbildung. Linz (Online: http://www.bmwfj.gv.at/Berufsausbildung/LehrlingsUndBerufsausbildung/Do…)

Oberösterreichischer Landesrechnungshof (2009) Bildungskonto des Landes Oö. Initiativprüfung (Bericht). Linz (online https://www.lrh-ooe.at/_files/downloads/berichte/2009/IP_Bildungskonto_…)

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