Vocational Promotion Institute

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Logo of the professional development institute Austria

The Berufsförderungsinstitut (BFI) is the largest educational institution of the Austrian employee representation and is supported by the Chamber for Workers and Salaried Employees and the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) . The educational offers include, on the one hand, professional training and further education for employees, and , on the other hand, educational and retraining programs for the unemployed and those looking for work. The BFI is represented with branches in all Austrian federal states , with the offer in Vorarlberg being handled by the training center of the Chamber of Labor (AK) Vorarlberg. Since 1997 the BFI has also been running courses to prepare for the vocational maturity examination in Austria. Since 2005 there has also been the option of so-called educational loans for short-term financing of course fees.

The BFI records around 20,000 educational events annually (with almost 2.8 million teaching units in 2010). The more than 230,000 participants represent the gender structure of Austria (51% female, 49% male). The most important subject areas: secondary education (21% of the participants), languages (17%), technology , processing and transport (13% of the participants), IT (9%).

history

The Vocational Promotion Institute was founded on December 21, 1959 on the initiative of the ÖGB and the Chamber of Labor in Vienna. From 1960 the activities were expanded to the entire federal territory, beginning with the establishment of regional offices in Lower Austria, Upper Austria and Styria. The BFI was one of the first institutions in Austria to recognize the importance of electronic data processing (EDP). The offer included introductory courses and training courses for the punch card system, which were soon supplemented by programming courses. New methods were also broken in terms of method: in 1961 the BFI distance learning school was set up, which opened up a wide range of courses to those interested in learning regardless of time and place. Just two years later there were 25 letter schools in different branches. In 1964, with the addition of records, language courses in English, French, Italian and Spanish became possible. In 1972 the Vocational Promotion Institute played a key role in founding the Conference on Adult Education in Austria. The management training was greatly enhanced, and in 1976 the BFI in Upper Austria once again impressed with its innovative strength with its first training in advertising design. In the 1980s, a restructuring process was initiated, which in 1991 resulted in the establishment of federal structures and the establishment of the BFI Austria as an umbrella organization.

Headscarf ban at the BFI Styria

The BFI Styria caused a sensation in March 2017 when it pronounced a headscarf ban for teachers due to an EU ruling , from which the BFI Austria expressly distanced itself.

The BFI Styria had banned the wearing of headscarves and threatened the trainer Helga Suleiman not to employ her any longer because she wears a headscarf as part of her religious identity. The BFI Austria distanced itself from the instructions of the BFI Styria and stated that there should be clothing regulations neither for course participants nor for employees of the bfi; For employment at the bfi only qualifications and competencies are decisive. Suleiman turned to the Equal Treatment Commission and the Chamber of Labor, whereupon the BFI announced that it would continue to employ them and suspend the implementation of the service instructions until a legal opinion is available.

BFI Austria

The BFI Austria has been registered as an association since 1991 and serves the regional associations as a service and coordination point. Courses and other educational events are offered by the operational regional associations, with the BFI Austria acting as an intermediary in cross-border training issues.

National organizations

BFI Vienna

The BFI Vienna has existed since December 5, 1990 as an autonomous , non-profit regional association. The services of the BFI Vienna are currently used by almost 45,000 participants annually. Together with its subsidiaries, the BFI Vienna employs around 900 people and over 1,000 independent trainers. They are entrusted with the organization and implementation of 3,700 courses and training courses as well as 40,000 consultations every year. The BFI Vienna is networked as a partner with international educational projects and organizations from various industries across Europe.

Numerous opportunities for personal and professional development are offered at 13 locations throughout Vienna.

The trainers from a wide variety of industries impart practical skills in a wide variety of fields of knowledge in accordance with the high quality standards - from languages ​​and IT to business administration, technology and communication. The offer ranges from catching up on an apprenticeship qualification to advanced management training across all educational levels. Target groups are employed people and companies as well as job seekers who can acquire social and technical competence as well as suitable qualifications ( certificates ) for new perspectives or their transition and re-entry . The BFI Vienna works closely with the Public Employment Service (AMS) , for which numerous training measures are taken over.

Four subsidiaries complete the offer of the BFI Vienna:

  • The schools of the BFI Vienna : A three-year business school and a five-year business academy, each of which also includes a part-time variant ( evening school ) with the inclusion of distance learning modules, as well as a one-year school for computer science for adults. In addition, the school in Vienna-Margareten offers a part-time business college with distance learning and a three-year postgraduate course at business academies.
  • The School for Computer Science is the only school in Austria that enables all interested parties who have completed compulsory schooling and from the age of 17 a comprehensive training with a focus on medium-sized data technology (IBM iSeries) and offers the possibility of international certification ( IBM , SAP , Cisco ) gain; the IT school is a member of the IBM Academic Initiative.
  • Since the 2019/20 school year, Franz Ramskogler has offered a programmatic-critical introduction to artificial intelligence for the first time in the commercial school system at the Computer Science School . Coding and programming are introduced in Scratch and Python with the Raspberry PI, the Controller Pro and the Pythonboard Pro from raspbotics.at . An exam and another one on the subject of artificial intelligence can be taken at elementsofai.com via Python .
  • The technical-commercial evening school of the BFI Vienna offers u. a. Foreman training, special courses as well as additional courses for the professional maturity examination.
Entrance area Stuwerstraße of the BFI Vienna University of Applied Sciences
  • The University of Applied Sciences of the BFI Vienna emerged from the diploma course "European Economy and Management" which was offered for the first time in the winter semester 1996/97. The addition of further courses ("Banking and Finance" and "Project Management and Information Technology") led to accreditation as a FH in April 2002. The postgraduate program started in 2003, and in 2004/05 - for the first time in Austria - a course for professional development (according to Section 14a of the University of Applied Sciences Studies Act) was offered at the FH of the BFI Vienna under the title "Academic Auditor of Auditors". Since 2006 the FH of the BFI Vienna has had both the Diploma Supplement and the ECTS label. The University of Applied Sciences now offers eight Bachelor's degrees (work design and HR management, banking and finance, European economy and corporate management, European economy and business management, film, TV and media production, logistics and transport management, project management and IT and technical sales management) and six master’s courses (European Economy and Management, International Banking and Finance, Logistics and Transport Management, Project Management and Organization, Quantitative Asset and Risk Management and Strategic HR Management in Europe) - also part-time.
  • Job-Transfair GmbH was founded in May 2001 and helps people to (re) enter the job market. For the duration of a trainee phase and up to a further twelve months, employees are employed and placed with partner companies. At the end there should be a firm takeover by the external client.

The BFI Vienna has been one of the first educational institutes to be certified with ISO 9001 since 1996. The two managing directors of the BFI Vienna are Franz-Josef Lackinger (since March 2011) and Christian Nowak (since the beginning of 2018).

BFI Upper Austria

The BFI Upper Austria, founded on October 14, 1960 by the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor and the ÖGB , is the leading company for second education and professional qualifications in Upper Austria . The aim and mandate of the BFI Upper Austria is to support, encourage and accompany as many people as possible in the development and use of their professional and social opportunities. In addition to higher qualifications in the second education path, the BFI Upper Austria attaches great importance to specialist training as well as health and social training. The BFI Upper Austria has also established itself as a training center for people with a migration background.

In 2010, 56,300 people attended courses at the BFI Upper Austria, and the turnover was 52 million euros. Never before in its 50-year history has the largest adult educator in Upper Austria moved more money. 53.5 percent of the course participants are female and around a third are between 20 and 29 years old. A total of 1,400 trainers taught 4,925 courses at the BFI Upper Austria.

The Steyrer BFI on Tomitzstrasse, behind it the City Point department store

The BFI Upper Austria has locations in the following 22 Upper Austrian municipalities:

  • Innviertel region: Braunau am Inn, Mattighofen, Ried im Innkreis, Schärding
  • Linz / Mühlviertel / Steyr region: Freistadt, Haslach, Linz, Perg, Rohrbach in Upper Austria, Steyr, Traun
  • Salzkammergut region: Attnang-Puchheim, Bad Goisern am Hallstättersee, Bad Ischl, Gmunden, Mondsee, Vöcklabruck
  • Wels region: Eferding, Grieskirchen, Gunskirchen, Kirchdorf an der Krems, Wels

The course book of the BFI Upper Austria appears once a year with training offers from all areas of life - from technology to business and languages ​​to IT and personal development. The following four focal points are particularly promoted:

  • Skilled worker training: The BFI Upper Austria, the largest apprentice trainer in Upper Austria, provides training that is tailored to needs with its own training centers and production schools.
  • Second educational path: The BFI Upper Austria accompanies those who are hungry for education from the secondary school diploma to the apprenticeship with the Matura to the vocational matriculation examination and the university degree (cooperation with the Hamburger Fern-Hochschule).
  • Offers for people with a migration background: In this business area, language and qualification measures are carried out with intensive social and professional support.
  • Social and health training: Since 2008 the BFI Upper Austria has published its own course book for social and health training.

In addition to the range of freely bookable courses, the BFI Upper Austria implements numerous projects and courses on behalf of public clients. Around two thirds of the course turnover comes from public sector contracts, one third is generated from the free sale of courses. The managing directors of BFI Upper Austria are Christoph Jungwirth and Silvia Kunz.

literature

  • Sabine Lichtenberger, Michael Sturm: 50 years of vocational training institute. ÖGB Verlag, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-7035-1398-5 .

Web links

Commons : Berufsförderungsinstitut  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Tölle: Large educational savings. Focus In: Work & Economy, 2008.
  2. ↑ BFI Austria: BFI key figures for the year of education (2010).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Chronicle of the Vocational Promotion Institute
  4. ^ Lichtenberger / Sturm, 2009.
  5. ↑ Headscarf ban at the bfi: trainer defends herself on ORF from March 29, 2017, accessed on March 29, 2017.
  6. ^ Opinion of the BFI Austria: Headscarf ban for employees is going it alone by the BFI Styria on OTS from March 15, 2017, accessed on March 29, 2017.
  7. ↑ Headscarf: Entrepreneurs welcome freedom of choice ORF Steiermark, March 15, 2017; Headscarf ban at the bfi: trainer defends herself ORF Styria, March 29, 2017; Bernd Hecke: “bfi” educational institute forbids female employees to wear headscarves Kleine Zeitung , March 15, 2017; Bernd Hecke: Muslims in Graz do not want to be deprived of their identity Kleine Zeitung , March 17, 2017; Bernd Hecke: German teacher from Graz sues against "headscarf ban" Kleine Zeitung , March 29, 2017; Ida Metzger, Jürg Christandl: Yes to the headscarf or the leading culture? Kurier , April 14, 2017 (conversation with Helga Suleiman and Reinhold Lopatka ); Despite the ban, the teacher is still allowed to wear a headscarf. Oberösterreichische Nachrichten , April 13, 2017.
  8. ↑ List of schools of the BFI Vienna on schulenbfi.at.
  9. ↑ Bibliography on the Vocational Promotion Institute in the OoeGeschichte.at forum.