WIFI - Your International Partner for Education and Traning

WIFI and its Educations Programme

The Institute for Economic Promotion – WIFI for short – is the largest education and advanced education institution in the Economic Chamber organisation for its members and their staff, as well as the largest provider of vocational training and advanced education in Austria.  

With 30,000 courses and training courses as well as 340,000 participants every year, WIFI has a market share of 20% and is consequently the leader on the vocational further training market in Austria. Its annual sales revenue amounts to EUR 150 million. 

Nine regional WIFIs and 80 branches offer an extensive spectrum of services:
ranging from sector-specific and vocational courses and seminars through sophisticated management training and foreign language courses to specialist academies and university-type courses.

WIFI deploys 12,000 top-quality trainers from the business community. They guarantee practical know-how, teaching competence and theoretically sound expertise, thus ensuring that the know-how gained in WIFI can be applied directly in one's profession.  

WIFI certificates and diplomas are recognised by the business community.

WIFI has ISO certification and continuously carries out quality evaluations. 

• Mission Statement and Objectives
• Reacting to Trends Flexibly
• The WIFI Organisation

Mission Statement and Objectives 

The WIFI is a modern and future-oriented service organisation in the training and development sector that supports Austria’s economy. Our task is to provide success- and performance-oriented persons with opportunities that allow them to obtain substantiated, global and tried and tested knowledge that is needed to meet the social, economic and occupational challenges of tomorrow.   

To achieve this objective, the WIFI cultivates the constant exchange with entrepreneurs and human resource managers. Based on this permanent feedback governing the economic process as well as the labour- and occupational markets, we continuously develop innovative educational products that are consistent with the economy’s ever-changing demand. Every course year around 20 percent of the WIFI offers are newly developed programmes.  

The WIFI stands for learning from practice to practice and the gaining of knowledge on a high and internationally recognised level.

Flexible Reaction to Trends

Strong growth in business economics courses

Sitting at 30 percent, the demand of clients for business economics courses is the greatest. High-quality training courses offering internationally recognised certificates are particularly popular. "Businesses are demanding an ever higher level of business economics expertise, both from new staff and those switching within companies", explained Dr. Michael Landertshammer, head of WIFI Austria.

Stable demand for sector expertise

Sector-specific education and advanced education account for 24 percent of courses in the fields of tourism, trade and handcrafts, transport and commerce. The spectrum in this context ranges from basic training to academic study programmes. New courses are regularly offered in the areas of gastronomy and tourism in particular.

"Thanks to our proximity to the professional organisations of the Economic Chamber, WIFI simply has no rival in this segment of the education market", enthuses Dr. Landertshammer. 

Demand for advanced EDP training dips

EDP courses have been in decline for two years and currently sit at 13 percent. "The economic recession in the IT sector in recent years has impacted on further education too. This is compounded by the fact that basic IT knowledge is increasingly being covered by schools" according to the education expert.

WIFI has responded to this development with deeper and more innovative training programmes, for example LINUX, mobile computing and IT courses with academic qualifications. "In the fields of security and the internet we are banking on growth again", revealed Dr. Landertshammer.

Languages 

The demand for Eastern European languages has risen sharply. "The main motivation of our clients is to forge an international career", said Dr. Landertshammer.

Individualised learning 

There is a clear trend towards individualisation and self-controlled learning. Every month WIFI on average has 1,500 people taking part in eLearning courses. The most popular eLearning courses are IT courses, foreign languages and management training. 

The long-term WIFI objective is to offer eLearning alongside the entire spectrum of WIFI services.

Trend towards high-quality 

There is a general increase in the need for academic training – both for business owners as well as employees. 

The market requires highly qualified staff, particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises. Businesses need people with practical experience. This is why WIFI has significantly expanded its services in the top-end segment with universities of applied sciences, university-type courses, management and leadership seminars. 

The WIFI organisation

WIFI Austria is the research, development, service and communications platform of 9 provincial WIFIs. It comprises the WIFI Directors’ Conference and three competence teams:

WIFI Network: 

This team focuses on coordinating the 9 independent provincial WIFIs and developing new educational products. It is the coordination platform for the provincial WIFIs and develops new education products that are in demand on the market in the fields of management/corporate leadership, personality development, languages, business economics, EDP/IT, technology and sectors. Customised personnel and skills development packages are put together for businesses and implemented on-site in in-house training courses. More than 20 percent of the WIFI services were newly developed in the preceding course year.

WIFI Business Support Service (BSS):

This team is active in the fields of corporate leadership & management, innovation & technology, energy & environment and work & health, developing programmes and special solutions for small and medium-sized businesses together with internal and external partners. This way, businesses can rely on a competent service when implementing new provisions in relation to Basel II for example, with know-how on employee protection and occupational health, or in connection with the environment on issues of energy efficiency in the workplace.

WIFI International Know-how Transfer (IKT)

Since 1990 this team has offered courses for business people and top managers in countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, successor states of the Soviet Union and in selected target markets. Their services range from management courses that finish with internationally recognised certificates through advisory services on business start-ups to workshops for international EU projects. Every year, business economics courses with roughly 800 participants are held in an average of 13 countries.

In addition, WIFI Austria is also a shareholder of WIFI International GmbH, which pursues the aim of exporting the wealth of WIFI know-how in the field of adult education and setting up subsidiary firms abroad. The first, WIFI Hungaria, was established in Budapest in autumn 2002. In-house training and eLearning courses are offered in addition to open courses and seminars. For 3,500 Austro-Hungarian joint ventures, WIFI Hungaria represents the ideal opportunity for the professional training of their staff.