Public Expenditure on Education 2010

Furthermore, STATISTICS AUSTRIA calculates data on public expenditure (including expenditure on research and development for educational institutions) for the annual report to the UNESCO/OECD/EUROSTAT (UOE) based on the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED).

According to this UOE report, education expenditure amounted to €16 505.6 million in 2009 which equaled 6.0% of the gross domestic product. The Federal Government (public corporations included) is accountable for approximately 53.0% (or €8 744.3 million), followed by the Länder (federal provinces) and Vienna with 35.0% (or €5 788.7 million) as well as municipalities and educational municipal associations with approximately 12.0% (or €1 972.6 million).

Differences between the figures on public expenditure as published in „Bildung in Zahlen“ and the international data are a result of the differing purposes of the two data collections. While the national publication “Bildung in Zahlen” seeks to improve the transparency of payment flows within the Austrian education system, the UOE aims at providing internationally comparable data by implementing standardized methodologies. For this reason, in compliance with the guidelines issued by the UOE, the figures of the international report include estimated data on fictitious employer contributions to social security while expenditures of private households for public education services are deducted as they are recorded separately in the UOE data.

Changes in calculation methods

As of 2005 minor modifications in calculation methods were made:

• Management data from public bodies was recoded back to the fiscal year 2000 according to characteristics of the Austrian education system (primary schools, lower secondary schools, etc.). These characteristics were then divided into ISCED classes, thus enabling Austrian characteristics in their entirety to be converted into ISCED characteristics. In the depiction shown, this recoding was initially only carried out for the fiscal years 2005 and 2006 since the conversion process into UOE data requires a series of offsets.
• At Länder level, the revised method of processing education expenditure on general compulsory schools affects expenditure on special schools, resulting in a shift from ISCED level 3 to ISCED level 2 as of 2005. In particular, expenditure on teachers at general compulsory schools who are employed by the Länder was divided between the relevant types of schools (primary schools, lower secondary schools, special schools, pre-vocational schools) using weighted teaching staff data (according to the extent of employment, age and salary level).
• Large increases in expenditure at federal level can be observed between 2005 and 2006 at ISCED level 3 and ISCED level 5A/6. The final accounts of the Federal Government between the fiscal years 2005 and 2006 show significant increases mainly in personnel expenditure for academic secondary schools (+€64 million), business colleges and business schools (+€14 million), social academies, colleges of tourism, social and economic occupations (+€21 million) and technical and commercial colleges (+€20 million). According to each university’s final accounts, the increase of approximately 124 million is also caused by additional expenditure by universities on personnel (ISCED level 5A/6).
• According to the final accounts of the Länder excluding Vienna, high increases in expenditure were recorded at ISCED level 1 to 3. This is related to additional expenditure for elementary schools (+€45 million), lower secondary schools (+€49 million) and vocational schools (+€17 million). The expenditure for special schools which is split up among these three ISCED levels, increased by 16 million.
• Approaches relevant to higher education at municipal level at ISCED level 5A/6 essentially include payments to universities of applied sciences associations and university associations, study benefits and grants to university students and student halls of residence.

Additional Notes

Federal Government

According to Art. 14 of the Federal Constitutional Law (Bundesverfassungsgesetz) the Federal Government is responsible for maintenance of secondary schools, colleges and universities. This leads on the one hand to high expenditures in the field of upper level academic secondary schools, as well as, in the ninth school year and above at technical and vocational schools and colleges (ISCED level 3). On the other hand the high share of the Federal Government expenditures at ISCED level 5A/6 is due to global budget transfers to the 21 universities specified in the Universities Act 2002, transfer payments to universities of applied sciences and expenditure on education-relevant components of family allowance.

Länder excluding Vienna

Salaries of teachers employed by the Länder in the general and technical/vocational compulsory education system constitute a large proportion of education expenditure by the Länder. Reference should also be made to the high transfer payments pursuant to Sec. 4 Para. 1 of the Financial Equalisation Act (Finanzausgleichsgesetz). Under this Act, the Federal Government reimburses the Länder 100% of the salaries of teachers in their employment, including contract teachers employed by the Länder at public general compulsory schools, and 50% of the salaries of these teachers at vocational and technical compulsory schools and colleges. These transfers enter as education expenditure for the Länder in accordance with UOE guidelines.

Vienna

Expenditure by Vienna, with its special status as both a Land and a municipality, is determined separately on an annual basis. Vienna has a high level of expenditure in both the pre-primary sector and in the general and technical/vocational compulsory education system as a result of this special status.

Municipalities excluding Vienna

Expenditure by the large number of municipalities that are responsible for maintaining kindergartens, as well as schools at ISCED levels 1 and 2 is mainly made up of personnel expenses in the pre-primary sector and material expenses at primary, lower secondary, special and pre-vocational schools.

Educational municipal associations

Educational municipal associations (excluding music school associations) only play a role in the Länder of Carinthia, Tyrol, Vorarlberg and, in particular, Lower Austria. Lower secondary school associations, i.e. ISCED level 2, account for the majority of educational municipal associations.

Please consult our German website for tables and charts containing further information.