Entrepreneurship

education in Austria1

1 OVERVIEW
Entrepreneurship education in Austria is primarily regulated through the Austrian Strategy
on Lifelong Learning and the Curriculum of pre-vocational school, which are accompanied by
a set of well-establish support mechanisms for implementation. The country has been
developing a diverse range of entrepreneurship programmes both at the national and
regional level. Initiatives are available for the different levels of education targeting
students, teachers and the schools themselves.

One of the most successful initiatives in Austria is the Entrepreneurship Skills Certificate, a
voluntary additional qualification to support the development of students knowledge of business and
entrepreneurship in schools. The initiative runs as an add-on to the regular compulsory
secondary education. It is a modularised training programme, implemented at individual
school level alongside the regular curriculum. This Austrian certification programme is
recognised widely as a best practice, and has been adopted in Germany, France and the
Czech Republic, as well as in Albania, Kosovo, Mali and Ethiopia.

Austria offers many other initiatives aimed at the skills development of young people. One
such example is Innovative Youth. The Innovative Youth programme offers alternative
educational provision for scientific and engineering disciplines to develop creativity,
curiosity and the innovative appetite of the students. The programme has been successfully
implemented since the late 1980s. Programmes for teachers are also available, for example
the Lehrer/Innen in der Wirtschaft programme. This programme is specifically oriented
towards improving entrepreneurship knowledge in teachers through providing them with
access to industry, giving them the opportunity to learn about the problems that companies
face and bringing the experiences back into their educational programmes.

1
This country fiche was prepared by Technopolis Group with contribution from 3s, DTI and ICF as part
of the Entrepreneurship 360 - Promoting entrepreneurial learning in primary and secondary
education and in vocational education and training project commissioned by the European
Commission, DG Education and Culture.
The content of this document, including the case studies and the descriptions of the initiatives reflect
the information available as of August 2015.

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2 GOOD PRACTICE CASE STUDIES

Entrepreneurs Skill Certificate (ESC)

2.1 SUMMARY
The Entrepreneurs Skill Certificate (ESC, Unternehmerfhrerschein) is a voluntary
additional qualification to support the development of students knowledge of business and
entrepreneurship in schools. The initiative was first developed by the Austrian Federal
Economic Chamber in 2004 and has since expanded to Germany, France and the Czech
Republic, as well as to Albania, Kosovo, Mali and Ethiopia. The ESC is a modularised training
programme, implemented at the individual school level alongside the regular curriculum. As
a modularised programme there is the flexibility to deliver some of the content in school
time, and other modules can be completed through self-study or after the school day. The
target age of the Entrepreneurs Skill Certificate is 10 to 19 year olds. In 2013/14 more than
254 schools in Austria offered the ESC alongside the regular curriculum . In total, tens of
thousand of students are trained and certified annually across the countries in which it is
delivered. The course material is available in print or online (e-learning course). To award
the ESC, students have to pass all four modules which are examined on line a well as
through a final board examination . All teachers ' supporting the delivery of the ESC are
specially trained and certified.

2.2 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INITIATIVE

The Entrepreneurs Skills Certificate is based on an initiative of the Austrian Federal
Economic Chamber and is offered as a supplementary qualification for school children from
grade eight (age 10). The initiative was set up in 2004 and recognised as a best practice
example of entrepreneurship education by the European Commission in 2006 and
Eurochambres (the umbrella association of European chambers of commerce ) in 2011 .
ESC was developed to plug a gap in the education offering in Austria, which at the time was
not offering enough economic knowledge to young students . Although economics was
recognised as an important part of the curricula , standards of implementation were
questioned . The Austrian Federal Economic Chamber combined the need of improvement
of economic knowledge with the promotion of entrepreneurship and developed the ESC
as a modularised training programme which could be delivered alongside the main
curriculum in a standard way, leading to a recognised certificate.

The Entrepreneurs Skills Certificate consists of four modules:

Module A consists of activities focusing on the Work environment ; Economic cycle ; Economic
sectors; From the idea to the product; Economy for the market; Whos the Boss? (The Path to
being an entrepreneur).
Module B consists of activities focusing on National accounting; Money and the value of money;
Budget and national finances; Economic world - World economic; In Europe.
Module C consists of the following activities: From idea to market opportunity; Focusing on
the customer; Enterprise organisation/governance; Business Plan.

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The final Module UP includes the following activities : Introduction to accounting ; Administrative
accounting - double entry accounting ; Value added tax ; Taxation of income and taxation
procedures; Cost accounting in the enterprise; Staff Costs; Financing; The enterprise in day-to-
day business.
The content of Module A is focused on basic concepts and fundamental economic
relationships. Module A can be taken from school grade 7 upwards. Modules B, C and UP
are offered from the upper secondary level onwards (Module B deals with national
economic content, Module C outlines the foundations of business management).

The concluding Module UP is undertaken from grade 11 onwards or, after leaving school, on
the basis of self-study or at an adult learning institution.

The examinations for modules A-C of the Entrepreneurs Skills Certificate are taken online
and schools can request a specific examination date. For preparation for the online
examination, candidates can check the level of their knowledge in a mock examination
(module A-C). The results of the mock examination can be used as a basis on which to
decide whether to register for the examination or undertake a further study cycle.

The online examination of each of the modules (A-C) is compiled individually by a random
generator from a pool of questions specified by the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.
Each examination can be repeated as often as desired, but the examination fee must be paid
each time. Each candidate receives their results immediately after the examination and
therefore knows whether the examination has been passed or not. The examination is
passed if 63 % of the questions were answered correctly.

The last module (UP) is concluded with a board examination at an office for master
examinations of the chambers of commerce. The examination is assessed as having been
passed "with distinction", "with merit", with a "pass" or as a fail. The original certificates
are issued by the national licensed partner of the Entrepreneurs Skills Certificate and
presented at a ceremony in the school.

If all four Entrepreneurs Skills Certificate examinations have been successfully passed, they
represent the equivalent entrepreneurs examination as prescribed by law in Austria for
regulated crafts and trades. The added value of the certificate is that it is a reliable standard,
supported through online examinations and leads to a recognised certificate.

2.3 TARGET GROUP(S)

The programme is targeted at young people between the ages of 10 and 19. These students
are ones who have chosen to take an optional study programme on a voluntary basis to
provide them with entrepreneurship and business skills.

In Austria alone, 26,583 students have completed 51,463 Modules of the Entrepreneurs
Skills Certificate (2015). Across the participating countries there have been more than
42,000 participants. The flexible structure of the programme allows for the first module to
be taken as early as lower secondary school and the following modules in upper secondary
school. Further flexibility is ensured through the number of schools and adult education
centres that support the ESC. In the event that young people or young adults have not been

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able to complete the Entrepreneurs Skills Certificate while they were at school, adult
education institutions offer the individual modules as well as the module examinations.

2.4 ORGANISATIONS INVOLVED

The Entrepreneurs Skills Certificate was developed at the initiative of the Austrian Federal
Economic Chamber. The concept as well as the curriculum was further supported by input
from other stakeholders including the Vienna University of Economics and Business,
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Wirtschaft und Schule, teachers and students.

2.5 ACHIEVEMENTS, RESULTS

The Entrepreneurs Skills Certificate is a standardised and recognised certificate for
Entrepreneurship Education developed in Austria which has expanded significantly since
2004. ESC has been recognised on a European and at an International level as best practice
and has been taken up and adapted in seven additional countries.

The Entrepreneurs Skills Certificate has already been transferred and adapted to national
legislation in Germany, France and the Czech Republic, as well as to Albania, Kosovo, Mali
and Ethiopia. Tens of thousands of students are annually ESC trained and certified in
Austria, Germany, France and Czech Republic.

2.6 MONITORING RESULTS

The ESC supports fostering entrepreneurial skills of students, teacher training and
embedding entrepreneurship education in the school environment. It provides an important
example of provision of entrepreneurship education in schools and is also flexible due to the
modularised structure.

The curriculum as well as the learning outcomes are constantly monitored, evaluated and
adapted if required. In this process all relevant stakeholders from the local to the national
level are involved (e.g. authorities of regional, national governments), but also the opinions
and suggestions from teachers, students and graduates are considered.

2.7 LESSONS LEARNT

As the Entrepreneurs Skills Certificate focuses mostly on theoretical knowledge it is highly
recommended to combine the initiative with practice-oriented initiatives like the Junior Enterprise
initiative.
The commitment of the schools, teachers and students, but also of regional and national actors (e.g.
ministries or special interest groups) is very important for successful take up and recognition of the
ESC."

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Further information

Organisation: Wirtschaftskammer sterreich, Abteilung fr Bildungspolitik

E-mail: [email protected]

Further information in English and German:

https://www.wko.at/Content.Node/kampagnen/ufs_en/index.en.html
Information Folder:
https://www.wko.at/Content.Node/kampagnen/ufs_de/downloadbereich/UF_A4_Folder_EN-.pdf

Certified Entrepreneurship Schools

2.8 SUMMARY OF THE INITIATIVE

Entrepreneurship Education for School-based innovation (e.e.si) is an impulse centre set up by the
Austrian Ministry of Education and Women's Affairs along with other stakeholders. It is aimed at
certifying schools as Certified Entrepreneurship Schools (Zertifizierung Entrepreneurship-Schule).
The certification supports the premise that entrepreneurship education is a holistic activity, which
should be taught in all subjects, not as a curricula add-on. Sustainable entrepreneurship education is
only possible if it is an integrated part of school life and involves everyone. Those schools which are
awarded the certification have to implement activities on a school / college level through an
organisational framework for entrepreneurship education. The certification process is available once
a year starting end of March and finishing end of October. The certification is available on two levels:
basic and advanced, and has to be renewed every two years.

2.9 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INITIATIVE

In 2006, the e.e.si impulse centre for Entrepreneurship Education was established on behalf of the
Austrian Ministry for Education and Women (bmbf). The impulse centre works with multipliers in the
nine Austrian provinces to improve entrepreneurship education in secondary VET, business schools
and colleges, and to foster a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship both in students (aged
between 15 and 19 years) and teachers. In order to assure and improve the quality of
entrepreneurship education a set of criteria for the entrepreneurship school were developed. This
process resulted in a certificate for entrepreneurship schools. The certificate was awarded for the
first time in 2011/12.
The certification is called ONR 42001 and when awarded to a school, confirms a certain standard in
the organisation in the delivery of entrepreneurship education . This means that entrepreneurship
education is implemented in a holistic, targeted way, embedded in the school life. The assumption
behind stimulating this approach is that entrepreneurship education can only lead to sustained
effects if it is fully integrated into the school development process and is a central component of all
teaching and learning activities, understood by and engaged in by all i.e. teachers, parents, pupils and
the local business environment. Therefore it is not just the learning and teaching which are planned
for and designed to be entrepreneurial. Certification of an entire school is available on two levels; a
basic (level 1) and advanced level (level 2). Depending on the level, certain criteria have to be fulfilled
to become certified.

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For both levels, criteria from three areas have to be attained:

Entrepreneurship activities at the school/college, e.g. entrepreneurship day, company visits

, extra-curricular activities
Entrepreneurship basics for teachers working at the school/college, e.g. basic and advanced in-
house trainings at the school, attending relevant seminars, setting up-teacher teams
An organisational framework for entrepreneurship education on the school level e.g. anchoring
entrepreneurship education in the school profile, documentation of entrepreneurship activities
, coordination point for entrepreneurship education in the school

For each of the three areas and levels (basic and advanced) a list of possible activities has been set
out by e.e.si. In each area there are several mandatory and facultative criteria which have to be
documented and approved during the certification process. The certificate has to be renewed every
two years to ensure that the entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurial activities continue at the
school also after the certification.

2.10 ACHIEVEMENTS, RESULTS

The first certificate was issued in 2012 in Vienna. In 2013 another 11 schools from across Austria were
awarded the certificate and many others are in the middle of the certification process.
After the first pilot of the certification to become an entrepreneurship school, the process was
presented to the nine provinces in Austria for discussion and consultation. This led to slight changes
and adaptations being implemented.

2.11 LESSONS LEARNT

The approach taken to setting up the certification involved a range of stakeholders. An important
component was brainstorming with the teachers and principals within the respective schools being
put forward for the certificate.
A mechanism for doing this is through a World-Entrepreneurship-Caf approach, where everything is
gathered that is already happening at the school, so it can be showcased in its entirety. Schools
become very motivated and buy in to the entrepreneurial experience when they see how much is
already happening.
Further information
Organisation: Bundesweites Impulszentrum fr Entrepreneurship-Education

Website: http://www.eesi-impulszentrum.at/what-we-do/entrepreneurship-schule/
Further documents:

Certification Handbook 2014: http://www.eesi-impulszentrum.at/wp-

content/uploads/2014/09/Zertifizierungshandbuch-EE-032014.pdf
Certification Mindmap 2014: http://www.eesi-impulszentrum.at/wp-
content/uploads/2014/01/20130516_LY_eesiMindmap2A.pdf"

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3 EXAMPLES OF ON-GOING INITIATIVES ADDRESSING

ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION

3.1 INNOVATIVE YOUTH - JUGEND INNOVATIV

The Innovative Youth programme was set up in late 1980s to overcome the barriers students have to
engaging with new technologies and intensify project work in schools. The ultimate aim is to increase
involvement of pupils in STEM subjects as they go on to higher education.

The Innovative Youth initiative offers a programme through which pupils can develop their own
projects and compete for funding. There are many different categories of competitions, including:
young entrepreneurs, design, engineering, science and sustainability. After almost 30 years of
successful implementation, the programme is still very popular among young Austrians. In 2014/2015
there were over 35 student projects across seven different competing categories. When it was
launched for its 28th round (2015/2016) around 530 project ideas, from 1,800 pupils entered the
competition. Teachers provide significant support for the student projects which is considered to be a
key success factor.

3.2 TEACHERS IN BUSINESS - LEHRER/INNEN IN DER WIRTSCHAFT

Lehrer/Innen in der Wirtschaft is an initiative that promotes entrepreneurship among teachers. The
programme is offered by the Initiative for Teaching Entrepreneurship (IFTE). Throughout the
programme, teachers focus on understanding economic issues by experiencing managerial and
operational jobs in businesses themselves. This teacher training initiative involves companies and
teachers and has been a valuable learning tool to develop mutual understanding between the
education professionals and the world of industry.

3.3 ENTERPRISE WITHOUT BORDERS

The Enterprise without Borders is an internationally recognised programme of Junior Achievement
(Junior Enterprise). The concept of the programme is closely connected with the Junior Company
initiative. The student teams that participate and develop mini companies under the Junior Company
scheme can take advantage of the Enterprise without Boarders online platform to network and join
ventures with other similar student-companies. The programme offers guidance and mentoring, and
the experiences range from simple online presence and meetings, to joint creation of products and
services.

3.4 YEAR OF RESEARCH - JAHR DER FORSCHUNG

The Year of Research is an initiative of the Federal Ministry for Science , Research and Economy
targeted to the entire Austrian society, with special categories for children below 10 years old and
those in the secondary education (11-17 years old). The Year of Research is based on a simple online
platform through which the individual participants and teams can register and submit their ideas. The
ideas need to be well developed by the young participants before they participate . Teachers and
schools help in developing the first ideas through helping children to learn to collaborate, distribute
tasks and lead the process . After submitting the proposals , each year a selected jury judges the
proposals and selects the best , which are granted prizes . Since 2008 around 57 ,000 pupils
participated in the initiative, coming from 463 schools and educational (vocational) centres.

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3.5 FURTHER INFORMATION AND CONTACT DETAILS ON THE INITIATIVES

Title of initiative Enterprise without
in English Innovative Youth Teachers in Business Borders Year of Research

Title of the
Lehrer/Innen in der Enterprise without
initiative in the Jungend Innovativ Jahr der Forschung
Wirtschaft Borders
local language

Experimental learning,
Type of initiative Student competition Teacher training Competition
online platform

Launch date of
1987 N/A N/A 2008
the initiative

Bundesministerium fr
Wissenschaft, Bundesministerium fr
Name of
Forschung und Initiative for Teaching Junior Enterprise Wissenschaft,
implementing
Wirtschaft; Entrepreneurship IFTE Austria Forschung und
body
Bundesministerium fr Wirtschaft
Bildung und Frauen

Level of Primary, Secondary, Primary, Secondary,

Secondary Secondary
education VET VET

Target group Institutions Teachers Pupils Pupils

http://www.jugendinn http://junior.cc/junior-
Link to further http://jahrderforschun
ovativ.at/Satellite.aspx? http://www.ifte.at/ programme/enterprise-
information g.at/einreichung/

35=37&109=2 without-borders

Language in
which further
German German German German
information is
available

Milena Makrisevic,
Contact person competition Johannes Linder N/A N/A
management

Contact e-mail johannes.linder@kphvi wissenschaftskommuni

[email protected] [email protected]
address e.at [email protected]

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