WKÖ-Kühnel on technical colleges: Business welcomes the fact that the study place initiative is being implemented

2023-11-02 12:36:06

Demand for broader recognition of professional and non-university knowledge

Vienna (OTS) – “The qualifications that Austria’s economy needs for the ecological and digital transformation are trained efficiently and precisely at the universities of applied sciences. That’s why FH graduates, especially from the MINT subjects, are rightly in focus when it comes to urgently needed skilled workers for these areas. We therefore welcome the fact that the government has taken up important demands from the social partners’ study place initiative and that 350 new, additional places for FH first-year students have now been advertised for the winter semester of 2024/25. It is very positive that the successful model of the technical college is being further strengthened. Because our FH graduates are the skilled workers of tomorrow and are therefore an important piece of the puzzle in the fight against the shortage of skilled workers,” says Mariana Kühnel, deputy. Secretary General of the WKÖ. The social partners, together with the IV, presented a comprehensive future package for the further development of the universities of applied sciences in the summer of 2022.

Kühnel assesses the focus of the new FH places on MINT, with particular attention to innovative and interdisciplinary offerings, as targeted and positive. “It would also be important that non-traditional students without a high school diploma can also be qualified in the MINT area at universities of applied sciences: this would require broader recognition of professional, non-university knowledge as well as more part-time course offerings. “In this way, students without a high school diploma could also use the universities of applied sciences as a trampoline for their professional future and climb further rungs on the career ladder,” says Kühnel. (PWK381/HSP)