Vienna Business School is the name of an private educational institution in Austria with a focus on business and economics, operated in Vienna and Mödling by the Fonds der Wiener Kaufmannschaft (Viennese Merchants Guild). The Fonds der Wiener Kaufmannschaft operates six commercial academies (Handelsakademien) and six commercial schools (Handelsschulen) in Vienna and Mödling.
In addition, commercial colleges, consolidation courses as well as courses at the University of Applied Sciences of the Wiener Wirtschaft, are offered in cooperation with the Wirtschaftskammer Wien (Vienna Commercial Chamber). According to the statute of the Fonds der Wiener Kaufmannschaft, these institutions have the explicit aim to educate commercially competent young talent for the Wiener Wirtschaft.
Vienna Business School Courses Offered
Educational institutions and courses operated by the Vienna Business School:
- HAK/HAK I Akademiestraße
- HAK II/HAS III Hamerlingplatz
- HAK III/HAS IV Schönborngasse
- HAK/HAS Augarten
- HAK/HAS Floridsdorf
- HAK/HAS Mödling
- Kolleg für Kunstmanagement
- Kaufmännisches Kolleg – Städtetourismus & Eventmanagement
- HAK Plus – Schönborngasse & Mödling
Vienna Business School History
The Handelsakademie Wien was founded in 1857, the second Handelsakademie in the Austrian Empire after Prague, and instruction started in the following year with five teachers and 59 pupils. The first president of the Handelsakademie was Friedrich Schey von Koromla. The building of the Handelsakademie in the Akademiestraße near Karlsplatz was designed by the architect Ferdinand Fellner dem Älteren and completed in 1862.
The so-called Neue Wiener Handelsakademie (New Vienna Commercial Academy) was founded in 1905 by the Wiener Kaufmännischen Verein (Vienna Commercial Association). The school building was built in 1906 and 1907 in the Hamerlingplatz, designed by Julius and Wunibald Deininger. Also in 1907, the first Wiener Handelsakademie für Mädchen (Vienna Commercial Academy for Girls) was established in the Schönborngasse by the physicist Dr. Olga Ehrenhaft-Steindler. In the other Handelsakademien, girls were only taught in separate classes from 1921 onwards.
In the 1920s, the Wiener Handelsakademien were taken over by the Council of the Vienna Merchants, from 1940 until 1954 it was administered by the city of Vienna. After 1952, the Wiener Handelsakademien were introduced into the newly founded Fonds der Wiener Kaufmannschaft (Fonds of the Viennese Merchants). Since 1997, the Handelsakademien operate under the name Vienna Business School.
Vienna Business School Education
Education at the Vienna Business School lasts five years, and ends with the Reife- und Diplomprüfung (Matura). Notebooks are used in all classes from year two onwards, two foreign languages are compulsory, a third foreign language can be chosen as an optional course.
From the third year onwards, all students must choose an Ausbildungsschwerpunkt (key area of training) from the following options: Marketing und internationale Geschäftstätigkeit (Marketing and International Business), Controlling und Jahresabschluss (Controlling and Annual Financial Statements), Wirtschaftsinformatik und betriebliche Organisation (business IT and business organisation), Management-Praxis, and Multimedia und Webdesign.
What distinguishes the Vienna Business Schools from most other Handelsakademien is its international outlook and focus on practical learning: all students must complete two year-long projects (years three and five), one of them being the Maturaprojekt (a-levels project) in the relevant Ausbildungsschwerpunkt.
Furthermore, in the subject Übungsfirma (virtual enterprise), pupils ‘work’ in a virtual company for three hours a week, and take part in an international virtual trade fair. The academic rigour in the Handelsakademien means that dropout rates after the first year can be as high as 40 per cent. A selective admissions process and initiatives such as the ‘learning club’ have meant that dropout rates at the Vienna Business School usually range between 20 and 23 per cent.
The successful Vienna Business School model has also been exported elsewhere; for example, a Russian Delegation visited to familiarise itself with the Austrian education system, and the Vienna Business School in particular, and on a separate occasion the president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce visited the Vienna Business School in 2007.
The international outlook of the VBS model is further illustrated by the fact that the HAK Floridsdorf (Franklinstrasse) is a UNESCO school (one of 44 in Austria), and has partner schools in Denmark and Poland. Furthermore, there is an emphasis on familiarising students with the European Union, for example through Europatage (Europe days) or projects, as for example in the case of the HAK Floridsdorf.
Through the concept of HAK Plus, the Vienna Business School focuses particularly on exceptionally talented students, and enriches the existing HAK curriculum with additional skills, such as methodological, personal and social competences, as well as encouraging students to participate in extracurricular activities.
Vienna Business School Reputation
Vienna Business Schools can often be found in top positions in Austrian school rankings. Vienna Business Schools also have top-ranks in Bundesländer (state-level) rankings. The Vienna Business Schools have a particularly good reputation in so far as their education has a project oriented, interdisciplinary focus with an emphasis on personal development, as well as putting a premium on the use of modern technologies.
Liz Hull, Head of Human Resources at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Austria, states that “In our experience, those university graduates that have attended commercial academies are particularly client-focused, inquisitive and socially competent. In addition, they catch on in areas such as accounting a lot quicker than others”.
Many prominent members of the Austrian political, cultural and business elite are among the alumni of the Vienna Business School. Among the most prominent former students is the former Bundespräsident (Federal President) of Austria, Heinz Fischer.
Vienna Business School Cooperation with Business
The Vienna Business Schools have close links with major Austrian companies, such as the Raiffeisen Bank, BauMaxx (hypermarket chain), the Generali Group (insurance), and Uniqa, and multinationals such as Acer, Microsoft, Canon, and JVC. Businesses often hold ‘career days’ at the schools, and get involved with various projects
Vienna Business School Floridsdorf
The school of economics
Personal, practical, competent.
For success-oriented young people, the Vienna Business School (VBS) is the competence center that secures their career opportunities across the EU, because as a school of economics it guarantees the quality of education through its practical relevance.
We see value in education as encompassing expertise, entrepreneurship and humane education based on European tradition. We value performance, critical thinking, a sense of responsibility, professional work ethic and entrepreneurial thinking, and use and value individual skills and talents to best develop them.
Events and dates
- [currently on 17/06/2018] 18.-25.06.2018 – 3. Appointment Semester examinations Summer semester
- 19 and 21.06.2018 – Workshop preparation Diploma thesis 4th year, Prof. BENESCH, Prof. BERGER, Prof. HEIDECKER, Prof. NAGLSTUTZ , Prof. SCALET, Prof. SCHIMETSCHEK, Ballroom 1 and 2
- 20.06.2018 – Final Conference (general)
- 21.06.2018 – Issue of decisions and decisions
- 21.06.2018 – Workshop Preparation Diploma Thesis 4th year, Prof. BENESCH, Prof. BERGER, Prof. HEIDECKER, Prof. NAGLSTUTZ, Prof. SCALET, Prof. SCHIMETSCHEK, Festsaal 1 and 2
- 21., 22., 25., 26.06.2018 – Fitness Workshop WGKK, Koll. Liebert, 5 classes / 4 hours each (21.06 .: Gymnasium, 22nd, 25th, 26th June: Festsaal) 21.06.2018
- for an update click here.
Information for pupils, pupils, parents and guardians
- sRDP-HAK: www.hak.cc/node/3675
- sRDP-AUL: www.hak.cc/node/4196
- Diploma Thesis: www.hak.cc/node/3677
- Final exam HAS: www.hak.cc/node/4216
- Final thesis: www.hak.cc/node/4217
- Approval platform : www.hak.cc/node/4421 (new)
- All information on the new advanced level can be found at www.bmb.gv.at/nost and Hak.cc
Insights into our school life
- Here you will find up-to-date information about the possibilities to get to know our school better.
- Here you will find a report and photos for the Open House on Saturday, November 25, 2017.
Contact
floridsdorf
Franklin street 24
1210 Vienna
T: +43 1 270 62 88
F: +43 1 270 62 88-7519
E: floridsdorf@vbs.ac.at
Vienna Business School Hamerlingplatz
The school of economics
Personal, practical, competent.
For success-oriented young people, the Vienna Business School is the competence center that secures their career opportunities across the EU, because as a school of economics it guarantees the quality of education through its practical relevance.
As a business school, we impart relevant knowledge and practice entrepreneurial thinking. In numerous excursions, projects with partner companies and working in our practice companies, we combine theory and practice, the basic prerequisite for successful action: at home, in Austria and around the world.
Registration for 2018/19
Admission procedure for the 2018/2019 school year at the
VIENNA BUSINESS SCHOOL HAMERLINGPLATZ
Registrations in our secretariat:
Mon – Fri 8:30 – 14:00
For further information on registration please click here.
Are you interested in our college? Sign up for our special days!
Degrees offered
Find out more about the many possibilities that will be available to you after graduation:
- HAK Europe
- HAK International
- Practice Business School
- Twenty of our graduates recently gave us their “Living Books” speech and answer to their professional lives.
Experience a school day up close in class!
A pleasurable, exciting day with interesting contents:
Life in and with the economy – in Austria and worldwide.
Dates in the school year 2017/2018
Vienna Business School Akademiestraße
The school of economics
Personal, practical, competent.
For success-oriented young people, the Vienna Business School is the competence center that secures their career opportunities across the EU, because as a school of economics it guarantees the quality of education through its practical relevance. The development to success is the tradition of our house.
As the first and oldest commercial academy in the German-speaking world, the School of Managers is now prepared for the challenges of the future as a Vienna Business School. The combination of a wide-ranging, solid theoretical education with contacts with business practice that have been in existence for generations enables the students to develop promising competences.
Open House 2018
Saturday, November 24, 2018
Summer Sports Week 3rd HAK Classes 2018 – Niederöblarn
Sport Week 3. HAK
Info Sheet Sport Week 3. HAK_Infoblatt2
School registrations are still possible!
School year 2018/2019 School autonomy free days
- 29 October 2018 – 31 October 2018
- 16 November 2018 (Tauschag Open House)
- 22 March 2019
- 31 May 2019
Admission list school year 2018/19
To record list …
- school starts: Monday, September 3, 2018
- Class Assignment: according to notice of the class lists in the auditorium
- class opening first class: 9:30
to bring: the last year report
- photocall 1. Classes: Thursday, September 6, 2018
- PTA meeting. 1 Classes: Tuesday, September 11, 2018
- Ecumenical Service: Thursday, September 20, 2018, 3:00 pm in the ballroom (2nd floor)
Vienna Business School Fees
Financial Aspects and Tuition Fees of Studying in Austria Costs and funding
26 Jan 2018
Austria has a general image of being an expensive country for tourism. Vienna is one of the most expensive European capitals and winter vacation in the Austrian Alps is famous among the rich. However, when talking about studying abroad in Austria, the first thing that shocks people from all over the world is that it is actually free for students coming from the European Union and European Economic Area!
University tuition fees in Austrian universities
Within Austria, you can enrol in public or private universities, colleges and universities of applied sciences.
Tuition fees in public universities
- For EU-students: free of charge. Just have to pay student union and student insurance of 18 EUR/semester.
- For non-EU students: 1450 EUR/year
Exceptions:
- The University of Vienna charges tuition fees for certain study programmes at postgraduate level (Master and PhD courses), such as law or international relations, to all foreign students, regardless of their nationality.
Universities of Applied Sciences independently decide if they charge tuition fees. Currently, 17 of the 20 UAS require EU students to pay a tuition fee of around 363 EUR per semester. The fee for the student union and insurance applies as well.
Tuition fees in private universities
Private universities have their own tuition fees, which start from 1,000 EUR per year and can lead up to around 40,000 EUR/year
Free universities in Austria
Here are examples of free-tuition universities in Austria for EU/EEA students:
- WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business);
- Johannes Kepler University Linz;
- University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria;
- FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences.
- Tuition fees at top-ranked universities
Here is a list of average tuition fees for international students at the top-ranked Austrian universities:
- University of Vienna – average tuition fees between 1,500 and 11,000 EUR/year
- Vienna University of Technology –tuition fees of 1,500 EUR/year
- University of Innsbruck – average tuition fees 1,450 EUR/year
- Graz University of Technology – tuition fees of 1,450 EUR/year
Scholarships and funding options for international studies in Austria
International students in Austria can benefit from various study grants and scholarships offered by Austrian organisations or universities. The Federal Aid for Students offers study grants for certain areas of study or study allowances. The value of the grants offered is between 475 and 679 EUR/month.
Other scholarships are offered by the Scholarship Foundation of the Republic of Austria; the Austrian government provides a monthly scholarship instalment of 940 EUR or sometimes covers the accommodation costs – only for students who live in residence halls.
Check a list of Austrian universities that provide various scholarships for international students.
Find more scholarship opportunities in Austria.
Vienna Business School