Education voucher of the Chamber of Labour

Name of the instrument - Local language: AK-Bildungsgutschein
Name of the instrument - English translation: Education voucher of the Chamber of Labour
Scheme ID: 9
Country: Austria
Reporting year: 2015
Type of instrument: Grant for individuals
Type of entry: Example for a group of instruments

Short description: Members of the Chamber of Labour in Vienna can apply for the grant. The eligible education and training activities include computer and IT courses, job-related courses in the areas of work organisation and work environment, and language courses. The co-funding is fixed with an absolute amount of money (in 2014: EUR 150).
Short description of the related instruments: Some of the regional Chambers of Labour (Arbeiterkammern) provide funding for adult learning in the form of vouchers or grants. Membership in the Chambers is compulsory for all employees (with the exception of public servants), so that the Chambers’ cofounding schemes are widely available. The schemes of the various regional Chambers differ from each other. For example the Chamber of Lower Austria promotes various courses at different levels. The courses funded include the areas of health, IT, languages and second-chance education. In addition, university studies are encouraged. The Chamber of Tyrol promotes basic computer courses to computer driving licence with cofounding up to EUR 400. In addition, there is support for mainly formal adult education leading to a degree. Funding schemes are changing over time, an overview is available in various data bases (for example, in http://www.kursfoerderung.at). There are no statistics available on the various schemes across Austria. The latest available estimate (2006) assumed a volume of up to EUR 3 million for all schemes provided by regional Chambers of Labour.

Level of operation: Regional
Name of a part of the country: nap
Name of the region (for regional instruments): Vienna
Name of the sector (for sectoral instruments): nap
Relevance: Key scheme
Legal basis: Decision by the Chamber of Labour
Objective(s) and target(s): Facilitate the AK members´ access to training
Year of implementation: 2002
Year of latest amendment: 2014
Operation/Management: Chamber of Labour Vienna
Eligible group(s): Members of the Chamber of Labour Vienna (all persons employed in Vienna), unemployed, apprentices, persons on parental leave, marginally employed and freelance workers.
Group(s) with preferential treatment: None
Education and training eligible: Computer/IT: basic and advanced courses for professional development as ECDL, programming languages;
Job-related courses in the areas of work organization and work environment; Job oriented courses: Languages of the EU countries as well as Arabic, Bosnian - Croatian-Serbian, Chinese, Russian, Turkish;
German as a Foreignanguage;
Second language basic and advanced courses for Austrian Language Diploma;
Courses to fulfil the Integration Agreement
Catching up on apprenticeship qualifications;
Courses preparing for Berufsreifeprüfung and University entrance exam; Selected courses in business administration, accounting, office administration, controlling, cost accounting, special courses for skilled workers.
Source of financing and collection mechanism: The Chamber of Labour provides the budget and the operational management of the voucher for its members.
Every employee in Austria pays 0.5% of his income to the Chamber of Labour (mandatory membership).
Financing formula and allocation mechanisms: When booking a course for a marked AK Wien course it has to be announced that one wants to redeem a voucher. The amount will be credited to the course bill with a maximum EUR 120 (EUR 170 for parents on leave or for making up an apprenticeship degree).
Eligible costs: Specific arrangement
Frequency of the use: Only once
Volumes of funding: na
Beneficiaries/take up: Only data from the evaluation from 2002 are available. In 2002, 32 000 vouchers were issued. Based on a sample of 870 respondents, the 70% of users were men, 30% women. 9% hold an educational degree on ISCED 0-2, 66% on ISCED 3-4 and 24% on ISCED 5-6. Blue-collar workers made up for 7%, white-collar workers for 58%, 10% were on parental leave and 10% unemployed.
Organisation responsible for monitoring/evaluation: Chamber of Labour Vienna.
Monitoring/evaluation reports available: na
Most relevant webpage - in English: http://www.arbeiterkammer.at/The_Chamber_of_Labour.html
Most relevant webpage - local language: https://wien.arbeiterkammer.at/beratung/bildung/akbildungsgutschein/Bil…
Sources: Fleischer, Viktor , Hefler, Günter , & Markowitsch, Jörg (2011). Nachfrageorientierte Förderprogramme der beruflichen Weiterbildung für Unternehmen und Beschäftigte - Länderreport Österreich - ARBEITSBERICHT No. 7 Bericht im Rahmen des Projekts Effekte von nationalen Förderprogrammen der beruflichen Weiterbildung für Unternehmen und Beschäftigte im deutschsprachigen Raum. Wien: 3s reserach laboratory.; Hefler, Günter, Markowitsch, Jörg, & Fleischer, Viktor (2013). Diffusion und Handlungslogiken nachfrageorientierter Kofinanzierung individueller beruflicher Weiterbildung in Österreich. In B. Käpplinger, R. Klein & E. Haberzeth (Eds.), Weiterbildungsgutscheine - Wirkungen eines Finanzierungsmodells in vier europäischen Ländern (pp. 345-376). Bielefeld: WBV.; https://media.arbeiterkammer.at/wien/PDF/Publikationen/Bildungsgutschei…; Wagner, Elfriede , & Lassnigg, Lorenz (2006). Alternative Approaches to Individual Training Leave to Combine Work with Personal and Professional Development. Vienna: Institute for Advanced Studies. http://www.equi.at/dateien/foerderung_von_weiterbildung.pdf