Evaluation of the Contact Points for People with Qualifications Gained Abroad during the Period 2013-2016

The formal recognition of educational qualifications gained abroad serves the equality with corresponding Austrian equivalents and entails the associated rights to exercise one’s profession, to bear the title and to access further training. Depending on the field of qualification (school leaving certificates, academic degrees, regulated professions, apprenticeship qualifications), different procedures are applied in Austria and different bodies are responsible.

In order to provide support to people with foreign qualifications in the fragmented situation, four contact points (AST) were set up in 2013 to provide advice to migrants on the recognition and assessment of their qualifications acquired abroad:

• Vienna contact point (AST Wien) and Lower Austria and Northern Burgenland contact point (AST NÖ) in Vienna (responsible body: counselling centre for migrants)
• Contact Point Upper Austria and Salzburg (AST OÖ – AST Salzburg) in Linz (responsible body: migrare – centre for migrants in Upper Austria)
• Contact Point Styria, Carinthia und Southern Burgendland (AST Steiermark – AST Kärnten) in Graz (responsible body: ZEBRA – Intercultural Counselling and Therapy Centre)
• Contact Point Tyrol and Vorarlberg (AST Tirol – AST Vorarlberg) in Innsbruck (responsible body: ZeMiT – centre for migrants in Tyrol)

The counselling centre for migrants also supports the individual ASTs as a nationwide coordination centre (AST coordination). The AST work in cooperation with the Public Emloyment Service (PES) and the respective competent recognition bodies for professional recognition, nostrification, and equality of training acquired abroad.

The work of the contact points (ASTs) in the first years of their activity was the subject of the evaluation. The focus was on questions of goal achievement and impact analysis. A focused analysis and presentation of relevant framework conditions (labour market, international models of recognition counselling) complemented the results.