In Austria, most young people attend a vocational school after middle school or lower secondary AHS. Between 1973 and 2023, the number of students at intermediate and higher vocational schools (BMHS) almost doubled to 182,000, with 30 or more students in 40 percent of the classes. The BMHS are at their limit, and the need for space is expected to increase even further, warns the Chamber of Labor (AK). It is calling for a rapid expansion of HTLs, HAKs, and similar institutions.
Although Statistics Austria forecasts an additional 17,000 students at BMHS by 2033, the current 2020 school construction program, Schep, focuses primarily on upper-level AHS, the AK criticized in a statement to APA. Meanwhile, the number of students in upper-level gymnasiums has risen only slightly compared to BMHS (from 66,000 to 86,000, excluding evening AHS programs for working students), and only about 7,000 more are expected to join in the future.
AK warns of space shortages at BMHS
According to the AK, in the Schep program—approved by the previous conservative-green government—only 13 new or replacement buildings for BMHS are planned by 2030, compared to about twice as many for gymnasiums. About two-thirds of school expansions also affect gymnasiums. However, the AHS target group—students aged 10 to 18—is significantly larger than that of BMHS, where students aged 14 and up can complete a program in one to five years that combines vocational and general education.
Given the numbers, the AK is urgently calling for an “update” to the school development plan; otherwise, vocational schools will have to turn away many students simply due to lack of space. BMHS have significantly contributed to educational expansion over the past 50 years and promoted social mobility, said AK Vienna education expert Daniel Schönherr. “Especially in light of the growing shortage of skilled workers in technical, social, and certain service professions, we must invest in these schools now.”
“Massive investment backlog”
In addition to business academies (HAK), higher technical colleges (HTL), schools for human services, and educational institutions for early childhood education (BAfEP)—which offer vocational training combined with a high school diploma—the BMHS also include specialized and business schools that integrate vocational and general education.
In their government program, the ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS have already agreed on an immediate “realignment” of the Schep, focusing in part on the demand for skilled workers. In addition to more school spaces, the AK is also calling for additional part-time vocational training opportunities, monitoring of the actual availability of school placements and rejections, initiatives to ensure sufficient teaching staff, and new models that allow students to make up basic competencies at the start of BMHS programs. This could help ease the “massive investment backlog” that has arisen due to too few apprenticeship training opportunities provided by companies.
