Cheers to the Volunteers!

A society without volunteers? Difficult to imagine. For this reason, the Austrian Parliament dedicated a thematic focus to the Austrians’ commitment to volunteer work in 2021 and 2022 and commissioned a study on the topic. This study was conducted by Wolfgang Tomaschitz and Paul Schmidinger, both researchers in the Section Applied Political Science.

Ceremony in Parliament for Volunteer Work

At the festive conclusion of the parliamentary focus on July 5^th, 2022, Elisabeth Haslinger-Baumann, Vice Rector for Research and Development, presented the study results on the future of volunteer work in a ceremony in Parliament. At the end of the event, President of the Austrian National Council, Wolfgang Sobotka, handed over the study to Social Affairs Minister Johannes Rauch and Honorary State Secretary Claudia Plakolm. The study contains surveys and recommendations for improving the framework conditions for volunteers and organizations in Austria and also proves the high commitment of Austrians.

Study Shows the Importance of Volunteer Work and the Need for It to Be Sustainably Secured

“In Austria, more than 70% of those surveyed have already done volunteer work,” explained the Vice Rector when presenting her study. “Not only, but especially in times of crisis, volunteer work fulfills part of the critical infrastructure by structuring the willingness to help and covering important areas. It is important to secure volunteer work for the future in the long term and to strengthen the general conditions surrounding volunteer work,” emphasized Elisabeth Haslinger-Baumann in conclusion.

Parliamentary Focus with Broad Program

Accompanying the two-year parliamentary focus was a broad program in which the importance for society was discussed and acknowledged. The arc spanned from the stele exhibition at Heldenplatz to a panel discussion and a crowdsourcing process to a dialogue forum in April 2022.

Section Applied Political Science

The Section Applied Political Science has specialized in the master’s courses in Leadership, Politics and Management as well as Digitization, Politics and Communication, particularly in the area of the structural coupling of politics and administration. The interdisciplinary, English-language master’s course International Relations and Urban Policy expands this topic to include international diplomacy and city management. FH Campus Wien can draw on didactic experience in the areas of political management, public communication and digitization thanks to the experts in the higher-level Department Administration, Economics, Security, Politics.

Degree programs in the Department Administration, Economics, Security, Politics: