Education blog

Austria is planning to increase its investment in colleges, particularly in the field of information technology because IT graduates are in great demand, officials said Friday.

Minister of Science and Technology Beatrix Karl said the plan is still under negotiation between the Austrian Federal Economy Chamber (WKO) and the Austrian College Conference (FHK).

Kurt Koleznik, general secretary of the Austrian College Conference (FHK), said after a meeting with Karl that other majors such as biology, environment technology and engineer science should also receive more funds.

Austria was also facing a shortage of qualified staff in the technical natural sciences and about 400 additional graduates from the field are required until 2015, said Michael Landertshammer, director of the educational department of the WKO.

Landertshammer said the government plans to increase the number of FH graduates to 15,000 each year until 2030.

FH is a higher education institution in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece that sometimes specializes in certain areas such as technology and business. An FH education usually takes a shorter time to finish, with an annotation of “FA” in the diploma.

The Austrian government established the FH education in 1990. Since FH students already obtain some work experience during their studies it is sometimes easier for them than college graduates to find skilled jobs in Austria.