Bildungspolitik

Educational Policy: Educational policy in Austria covers schools, universities and adult education. Due to the economic upswing, education has been extended continually since 1960. Acts relating to education are passed with a two-thirds majority in the Nationalrat. After 1945, the conflicting attitudes of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the Austrian Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) regarding education caused some problems: The ÖVP aims at giving people the type of education best suited to their abilities within a differentiated school system, while the SPÖ stands for an egalitarian approach. When the conflict between the SPÖ and the Catholic Church was settled with the Concordat of 1960/61, a compromise was reached in some areas in 1962. The higher education sector is a matter of federal legislation. The Hochschulorganisationsgesetz (University Organisation Act, HOG) of 1955 created a uniform legal base for universities; it was replaced by the Universitätsorganisationsgesetz (UOG) in 1975, which in turn was thoroughly revised in 1993. The 1975 Act initiated a democratisation process at Austrian universities, while the main goal of the 1993 reform was to achieve a higher level of efficiency. Adult education is provided by Adult Education Centres, employers' and employees' organisations (WIFI, Institute of Economic Promotion; BFI, Institute of Vocational Training), religious communities (Catholic Education Society) and political parties (political academies).