The Austrian-Czech Expert Academy

The Austrian-Czech Expert Academy (EXPAK AT.CZ) is a cross-border cooperation project which develops regionally adjusted packages of measures.

The Vienna institute L&R Social Research (www.lrsocialresearch.at) is lead partner of EXPAK AT.CZ. The Czech partner institution is the Brno Chamber of Commerce.

In terms of strategic and content-related matters, EXPAK AT.CZ is supported by the Lower Austria and Vienna branch offices of the Public Employment Service Austria (AMS) and the Czech employment offices in the regions South Moravia, South Bohemia and Vysočina.

The EXPAK AT.CZ project receives funding from the European Regional Development Fund in the framework of the programme on cross-border cooperation between Austria and the Czech Republic 2007-2013. The Austrian national co-financing funds are provided by the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection.

The central aims of the Expert Academy include:

• Common development of innovative concepts of active employment market policy and testing in a pilot project.
• Facilitation of cross-border personnel placement through availability of information regarding job descriptions and modalities for the recognition of qualifications.
• Systematic mutual provision of information on new developments on the employment markets and in employment market policies in the respective border regions through conferences, seminars, workshops and consulting activities.

The activities of the EXPAK AT.CZ focus on the following fields of action:

• Border region monitoring: preparation of recent study results, data analyses and interviews with employment market experts in the framework of an annual report on the development of the common employment market.
• Conceptualisation and implementation of a cross-border pilot project: together with the employment market policy actors from the border region, a target group and the type of the pilot project are to be defined.
• Setting up the website www.jobtour.eu for a cross-border comparison of job descriptions and the relevant training and qualifications.
• EXPAK AT.CZ as a demand-oriented information provider, especially for employment market administrations: immediate information needs of the partners should be met by providing written summaries, consultation meetings, information seminars and workshops.
• Organisation of a trilateral employment market conference for cross-border exchange on relevant employment policy related issues with participation of the countries Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
• Subregional network meeting: Systematic networking between the Public Employment Service regional branch offices of Lower Austria and Vienna with the neighbouring employment service offices in the Czech Republic for the purpose of establishing a continuous working context.

Seminars:

• Development workshop for a cross-border pilot project, 19-05-2010

Studies/publications:

• Current status analysis report on the EXPAK AT.CZ pilot project
• EXPAK AT.CZ brochure

All reports, studies, concepts, documentation, planning documents as well as information on events organised by EXPAK AT.CZ are published on www.expak-at.cz. All information and documentation is available in German and Czech.

Additionally, we release an electronic newsletter with information on current events of the Austrian-Czech Expert Academy on a regular basis. If you wish to be included in the EXPAK AT.CZ newsletter distribution list, please send an email to: horak@LRsocialresearch.at.

Related projects: Austrian-Hungarian Expert Academy, Austrian-Slovakian Expert Academy, Austrian-Slovenian Expert Academy