Industrial Engineering and Management in Austria: Comparison of Qualification Profiles provided by Higher Education Institutions and Career Paths of Graduates

摘要

There are many different definitions of the term Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) and due to changes in the higher education system in Europe, a wide range of IEM degree programs offered by Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in Austria has emerged. As a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between IEM degree programs and their qualification profile. Therefore, the alumni organizations of Austria, Germany and Switzerland have defined a job specification for IEM degree programs in a common declaration (so called "3-countries declaration") to ensure a defined qualification profile and therefore a high employability of IEMs in industry. Both students and enterprises will then be able to rely on the acquirement of a certain qualification profile through the degree programs. Supporting the claims of the 3-countries declaration, the Austrian alumni Association of IEM called "WING" conducts periodical surveys in cooperation with the Institute of Business Economics and Industrial Sociology at Graz University of Technology to offer orientation and transparency for stakeholders in higher education and industry. The surveys are carried out as a secondary and a primary data-analysis. To get an idea of the existing unclear term "IEM", the first part of this paper aims to define the term IEM and present the range of qualification profiles of IEM degree programs offered at Austrian HEIs as well. The second part addresses alumni of IEM degree programs in an online survey and compiles their recommendation for an ideal qualification profile based on their professional experience. Furthermore, their career developments were reflected. The paper concludes with a summary of the recommendations deduced from the findings and a brief discussion and argumentation of IEMs' employability.