A Höhere Technische Lehranstalt (German for ''Higher Technical Education Institute'', or in a transferred sense ''Technical College''), commonly known as HTL, is an engineering-focused

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. As an

umbrella term In linguistics, semantics, general semantics, and ontologies, hyponymy () is a semantic relation between a hyponym denoting a subtype and a hypernym or hyperonym (sometimes called umbrella term or blanket term) denoting a supertype. In othe ...

it is used for either * Höhere Technische Lehranstalt (HTL, HTLA), * Höhere Technische Bundeslehranstalt (HTBLA, HTBL, Federal Higher Technical Institute), or * Höhere Technische Bundeslehr- und Versuchsanstalt (HTBLuVA, Federal Higher Technical Institute for Education and Experimentation). These institutions are an important part of Austrian

vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an i ...

. HTLs specialise in disciplines such as

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology syste ...

informatics Informatics is the study of computational systems, especially those for data storage and retrieval. According to ACM ''Europe and'' '' Informatics Europe'', informatics is synonymous with computer science and computing as a profession, in which t ...

industrial engineering Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information an ...

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...

mechatronics Mechatronics engineering also called mechatronics, is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering that focuses on the integration of mechanical, electrical and electronic engineering systems, and also includes a combination of robotics, electronics, ...

and

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...

. There are 75 HTLs in Austria (as of 2016). HTLs also existed in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

until 1995 when these institutions were converted into Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences.

Types of Courses

Höhere Technische Lehranstalten generally offer four different types of courses: * ''Höhere Abteilung'' (

ISCED The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) is a statistical framework for organizing information on education maintained by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It is a member of the i ...

level 5) offers the most common type of courses at Austrian HTLs. The courses last five years and start with grade 9. After five years, students may complete the curriculum with a ''Diplomarbeit'', a final graded project that requires several hundred hours of work. After that, a student has to pass a comprehensive examination: one written test in mathematics, an exam in a main technical subject, at least one in a language (German or English) and the final oral examinations. This is called ''Reife- und Diplomprüfung'' since the Austrian ''Reifeprüfung'' (

Matura or its translated terms (''Mature'', ''Matur'', , , , , , ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, C ...

) is an integral part of it and graduates are formally enabled to attend university. This type of education has a number of similarities to Japanese colleges of technology (

Kōsen A "college of technology" is the translated Japanese word used to described the educational Japanese college system, a variety of programmes of 4 or 5 years of study at a collegiate level. The , often abbreviated to are attended by students 15 ye ...

). After three years of work experience in engineering, graduates can apply for the Austrian professional title ''Ingenieur'' ( pre-nominal letters: Ing.), literally

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

. * ''Fachschule'' (

level 3) courses last four years and start with grade 9. After four years, students have to complete a ''Technikerarbeit'' (a final examination project) and then pass the final examinations to graduate from HTL. Students can also attend the examinations for the ''Berufsreifeprüfung'', but these examinations are voluntary. The Berufsreifeprüfung formally enables students to attend university. * The so-called ''Abendschule'' (evening school) offers a type of course that is very similar to the ''Höhere Abteilung'' and intended for people who want to study while they work. These courses are organized in 8 semesters and are completed with a ''Reife- und Diplomprüfung'' just like the ''Höhere Abteilung''. * The fourth type of courses at HTLs are special

post-secondary Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

courses for students who have completed an

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

, are

master craftsmen Historically, a master craftsman or master tradesman (sometimes called only master or grandmaster) was a member of a guild. The title survives as the highest professional qualification in craft industries. In the European guild system, only mast ...

or graduated from Gymnasium with Matura. These types of courses are also offered at the ''Höhere Abteilungen'' and end with the same qualifications as the five-year courses.

HTLs

* The largest HTL in Austria with 3.500 students is the HTBLuVA

Mödling Mödling () is the capital of the Austrian district of the same name located approximately 14 km south of Vienna. Mödling lies in Lower Austria's industrial zone (Industrieviertel). The Mödlingbach, a brook which rises in the Vienna Woods ...

, which is also the largest school in Europe. * The oldest Austrian vocational school is the ''HTBLuVA Wien 5 Spengergasse'' in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, established in 1758 by

Maria Theresia Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position '' suo jure'' (in her own right) ...

. * The HTBLVA TGM (Technologisches Gewerbe Museum) in Vienna has the highest school building in Austria (about 70m, 16 floors). * The HTBLVA TGM also has the largest base area of any HTL in Austria.

Höhere Technische Lehranstalten in Austria

''Sorting by Gemeindekennziffer''.

External links

www.bildungssystem.at
- Information about the Austrian educational system {{DEFAULTSORT:Hohere Technische Lehranstalt Engineering education Vocational education in Austria School types Vocational education in Switzerland

Types of Courses

HTLs

Höhere Technische Lehranstalten in Austria

See also

External links