The Institute
Business education research at WU is characterized by a wide selection of topics and schools of thought. Prof. Aff concentrates mainly on the implementation of innovative teaching methods using experimental models in the tradition of action research in education, while Richard Fortmüller works in the field of experimental empirical research design in the tradition of critical rationalism, and Bettina Fuhrmann conducts evaluation research.
Over a period of more than 5 years, Institute faculty was involved in the experimental school model “Begabungsförderungsmodell Schumpeterklassen an der BHAK Wien 13” (a program for educating gifted children that was implemented at a secondary-level business school in Vienna), which was commissioned by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture. In this project, methods of gifted educating and encouraging entrepreneurship were developed. A three-level model of entrepreneurship education was developed, now used in full-time secondary-level business schools.
The project resulted in a high level of knowledge transfer, especially through the publication of an information package for distribution to schools on entrepreneurship education, numerous teacher training seminars, curriculum reform concepts, textbook projects and also through the establishment of an impulse center for entrepreneurship education at the school (http://www.eesi-impulszentrum.at), which is responsible for knowledge transfer on entrepreneurship education in secondary business education throughout Austria. In addition to design and implementation research and explorative studies on vocational education (e.g. on business education at the secondary level), Prof. Aff has been working on business education issues since 1995.
One of the main emphases of Richard Fortmüller’s basic research is learning theories with regard to information processing approaches. His research concentrates mainly on conditions analyses of teaching and learning processes in business professions, based on cognitive theory. Long-term research projects are complemented by empirical studies on school and continuing education-related issues.
Bettina Fuhrmann’s empirical research concentrates mainly on evaluation research (in various forms and on numerous issues). Current projects have focused on company simulation, resulting in large amounts of useful data on the didactic possibilities and limitations of these simulations, leading to the development of planning heuristics for developing and improving the use of company simulations in teaching. A further project concerns the evaluation of teachers by students: which criteria students use to evaluate teachers and what these criteria have to do with the quality of teaching.
International cooperations
The Institute has participated in numerous international research cooperations focusing on education issues, especially with Eastern European countries (Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russian Federation), including the EU-TEMPUS project entitled “Introducing Entrepreneurship Education in the Russian Federation” in cooperation with the University of Paderborn and several Russian universities.
Business education in practice
The single-phase structure of the master’s program requires close contacts to numerous teachers and partner schools. In addition to these, the Vienna Institute has many other areas of cooperation. The authorship or co-authorship of school textbooks has always been an excellent method for influencing teaching practice directly. Many Institute faculty members (Steiger, Fuhrmann, Kögler, Baier) contribute to school textbooks or publish special information packages on topics like entrepreneurship or the EU eastern expansion (Aff, Kögler, Wagner). Continuing education programs for teachers are also part of the Institute's standard program.
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