Austria
IT
Workforce
Executive Summary
The University of Vienna was established in 1365 and is
Austria's oldest and largest university. Education is important and overall the
system is well-developed. The country’s public school and university systems are
free. Beyond the nine years of mandatory education there are a range of
vocational- technical and university preparatory tracks involving one to three
additional years of education. After the introduction of Vision 2005, Austria began to focus and make improvements on the
areas of research and technology in education. The following section describes
these actions, as well as the language skills and wages of the Austrian
workforce.
Education
Austria has a
well-developed education system; a highly educated society is more apt to
embrace new technology. The literacy rate (defined as persons aged 15 and over
who can read and write) in Austria is 98 percent of its population. This is
uniform with Germany and Switzerland who both have a 99 percent literacy rate.
Austria’s Vision 2005 strongly focuses on the country’s education system. While the system is generally satisfactory, the Council that oversees Vision 2005 recognizes that it is not competitive in terms of research and technology. One subject area that will be revamped and/or promoted further is information and communication technologies (multimedia technologies, e-business, digital content, micro-electronics, telecomm).By revamping/promoting such subjects, Austria aims to develop the country’s scientific and technical knowledge base.
The Council’s goal is to double the number of graduates in the innovative disciplines. In order to achieve this goal, the Council is improving the quality and the accessibility of the Education system. The tuition system will also be modified to make a university education more affordable, especially at universities and colleges specializing in areas of research and technology. In 2001, tuition fees at polytechnic institutes were EUR 377.22 per semester per student.
By 2006, approximately € 72.7 million will be spent on IT programs that teach basic IT skills up to expert proficiency. The programs, which were launched by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture, are part of a larger program called e-FIT (16). There are eight “fields of activity” with programs and goals, as follows:
|
Program |
Goal |
|
Teaching with New Media |
To train 120,000 teachers
on Internet skills |
|
IT Education Offensive |
To better prepare students
for IT-related jobs |
|
To equip all public Austrian
schools with Internet access |
|
|
Education Gateway |
Internet portal to serve as
a central access point to all relevant information for all levels of
education and training in Austria |
|
Science and Research |
To position Austria as a
leader in some areas of e-basic research as well as applied e-research in
pre-competitive and competitive product development by fostering co-operative
programs among universities |
|
Continuing Education in IT
(Circus Internet) |
To encourage lifelong
learning for adults by establishing adult education competence centers |
|
Culture in Cyberspace |
To preserve and provide
access to Austria's cultural heritage |
|
E-government in Education |
To introduce public
management into the Austrian educational system in order to make
administrative procedures easier with new technologies |
|
Infrastructure |
To provide the
technological base for all other fields of activity, mainly to gain
high-speed access to international networks for ACONet and the Austrian
School Network (ASN) |
The Ministry’s goal is to provide all
Austrian citizens with an Internet competency and therefore increase its usage.
By making training accessible to everyone, the government hopes to stimulate
interest in the ICT sector.
Language Skills
Due to English being
the primary language used in technology, it is imperative that countries teach
English language skills in order to participate in IT. Austria is a country
of many languages. German is the official language, but Czech, Croatian, Hungarian,
Romany, Slovene, and Slovak can also be found. Although many European languages
are offered, English is the most common second language studied. Austrian
students begin their language studies in grades three and four but 800 hours
of English lessons are required to complete the pre-vocational year (in the
United States this would be the final year in high school) (23).
In 1997, students in secondary schools and Engineering colleges are required
to take eleven courses in English. Most programs require a final project in
English in order to graduate. Even students who attend vocational schools
are required to take English lessons.
Though hours of study are required many Austrians lack the proficiency necessary to carry on a simple
conversation. This is a weakness for Austria since English is the language of
technology.
Wages
Wages in Austria’s
IT sector are not competitive with other countries. According to PayScale.com
(19), it is more lucrative to have a career
in marketing than one in information technology. Salaries improve with education
though. A diploma in Computer Engineering Technology (the equivalent of a
high school diploma in the United States) receives a median of $31,486, whereas
a B.S. in Information Technology can expect a median salary of $66,788.
|
Median Salary by Job |
|
|
Job Title |
Salary |
|
Project Engineer |
$39,963 |
|
Computer/Network Support
Technician |
$40,133 |
|
Network & Computer
Systems/Administrator/Systems Programmer |
$42,288 |
|
Information Systems Manager |
$49,220 |
|
Marketing Manager |
$78,110 |
|
Source: PayScale.com
(2003) |
|
|
|
|
|
Median Salary by Skill |
|
|
Job Title |
Salary |
|
C++ |
$30,881 |
|
Microsoft Office |
$30,881 |
|
Microsoft Windows 3.x,
95/98/Me, 2000, or XP (General Use) |
$33,908 |
|
Network
Management/Administration |
$36,330 |
|
WindowsNT/2000/XP
Netoworking |
$40,133 |
|
Java |
$48,440 |
|
SQL Server (Microsoft) |
$48,440 |
|
Internet Information Server
(IIS) |
$50,000 |
|
Source: PayScale.com
(2003) |
|
|
|
|
|
Median Salary by Industry |
|
|
Job Title |
Salary |
|
Healthcare Services |
$16,094 |
|
IT Networking |
$32,556 |
|
IT - Computer, Software |
$40,133 |
|
IT - Computer,
Hardware/Systems |
$44,286 |
|
Engineering |
$48,440 |
|
Telecommunications |
$48,440 |
|
Consulting Services |
$61,330 |
|
Marketing |
$78,110 |
|
Source: PayScale.com
(2003) |
|
|
|
|
|
Median Salary by Degree |
|
|
Job Title |
Salary |
|
Diploma, Computer
Engineering Technology |
$31,486 |
|
Bachelor of Engineering
Honors |
$36,330 |
|
Bachelor of Science in IT
(BSIT) |
$66,788 |
|
Master of Science in
Mechanical Engineering |
$72,660 |
|
Master of Science in
Advertising (MS) |
$75,082 |
|
Master of Business
Administration (MBA) |
$114,330 |
|
Source: PayScale.com
(2003) |
|
|
|
|
|
Median Salary by Product Activity |
|
|
Job Title |
Salary |
|
Instruments, Process
Control Equipment |
$31,545 |
|
Networking Equipment |
$36,330 |
|
E-Commerce, B2B |
$40,133 |
|
Telecommunications
Equipment |
$44,444 |
|
Foods, Beverages |
$62,972 |
|
Computing Solutions -
Hardware |
$66,788 |
|
Industrial Gases |
$72,660 |
|
Financial Services |
$75,082 |
|
Source: PayScale.com
(2003) |
|
The Global Information
Technology Report 2003-2004
Rankings on various variables can help to put an issue into perspective. The Global Information Technology Report 2003-2004 (1) uses the Networked Readiness Index as a basis of comparison, scoring countries on a scale of one to seven. This is “a nation’s or community’s degree of preparation to participate in and benefit from information and communication technology (ICT) developments.” It is a comparison of 102 countries in three component areas: Environment, Readiness, and Usage. The Index identifies three stakeholders in ICT: individuals, businesses, and governments. The Readiness Index assesses (score 1-7) the capability of the stakeholders of an economy to access and utilize the ICT. Overall Austria, Germany, and Switzerland were very comparably scored in the Readiness Component, ranking 15, 12, and 13 consecutively.
The Individual Readiness Sub-index refers to the stakeholders’ capability (Readiness) to use and benefit from ICT. Modes of accessibility and usage rates of the Internet are important factors of the sub-index. In 2000, Austria spent $1,476.50 per capita or approximately six percent of its GDP on education. This has been the approximate annual percentage since 1995.
Education is important in Austria, as evidenced by its high
enrollment rate. Tertiary (high school) enrollment was 57 percent of the
population in 2001.
|
|
Austria |
Switzerland |
Germany |
|
Public Expenditure on
Education, 2000 |
$1,476.50 |
$2,043.27 |
$1,116.49 |
|
Public expenditure on
education per capita |
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
Tertiary Enrollment, 2001 |
57.7 |
42.1 |
46.3 |
|
Gross tertiary enrollment
rate in percent, 2001 or most recent |
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
Quality of Math and Science
Education, 2003 |
5.84 |
5.86 |
4.11 |
|
Math and science education
in your country's schools (1=lag far behind most other countries, 7=are among
the best in the world) |
|||
|
Source: The Global
Information Technology Report 2003-2004 |
|||
Another important sub-index under the Readiness Component is the Business Readiness Sub-index, which refers to the readiness of businesses and the ease of businesses to set-up operations and to hire talented employees. The quality of Austria’s business education is an important factor in this sub-index. Its score is comparable to that of Germany. Without trained businessmen and women, technology and innovation will only go so far. It is these individuals who provide manage the operations and marketing of Austria’s products and services.
|
|
Austria |
Switzerland |
Germany |
|
Quality of Business
Schools, 2003 |
5.24 |
6.03 |
5.33 |
|
Management of business
schools in your country are (1=limited or of poor quality, 7=the best in the
world) |
|||
|
Source: The Global
Information Technology Report 2003-2004 |
|
||
The Environment Component evaluates the country’s environment in facilitating the development and use of ICT. Overall, Austria was 21st out of the 121 countries surveyed. Germany ranked 17th; Switzerland, fourth.
One of the
Environment Component’s sub-indexes is the Market Environment, which evaluates
the presence of the appropriate human resources and ancillary businesses to
support a knowledge-based society. An aspect of the Market Environment is
“Brain Drain” or the rate that the country’s talented people leave the country
to pursue opportunities. The country received a score of 4.57 (score 1-7),
which indicates that a certain number of Austrians are looking elsewhere to
pursuing opportunities unavailable in Austria.
|
|
Austria |
Switzerland |
Germany |
|
Brain Drain, 2003 |
4.57 |
5.29 |
4.31 |
|
The country's talented
people (1=normally leave to pursue opportunities in other countries, 7=almost
always remain in the country) |
|||
|
Source: The Global
Information Technology Report 2003-2004 |
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