Academic further education alongside your job? That requires a great deal of willpower and stamina. But the advantages are obvious and soon even possible to recognize in the bank account. We summarize the findings of a study and pack them into a short plea for lifelong learning.
Results of a survey conducted by the market research company Telemark Marketing in spring 2022 among 150 HR managers in Austrian companies highlight the unmistakable advantages of academic continuing education in career advancement. More on this in a moment below.
Before that, we would like to briefly highlight that FHWien der WKW has been offering this already established track of courses under the new brand of Vienna Management Academy since spring 2022: A new brand that underpins the top position in the field of academic continuing education for professionals.
Especially in the areas of management, communication and marketing, as well as digital transformation, sustainability and real estate, the university courses of the Vienna Management Academy are the springboard for the next career step.
“The further you get in the lifelong learning cycle, the more ‘having to learn’ becomes ‘wanting to learn’,” is how Wolfgang Vrzal, Head of Vienna Management Academy at FHWien, describes this development. “It is relevant for all employees in an organization that their performance is observed and assessed. Where it is a matter of performing better than the minimum requirements, continuing education follows seamlessly.”
On the one hand, continuing education shows that you want to develop in terms of content – not least to defy the rapidly falling half-life of knowledge. And on the other hand, it testifies to a mindset and willingness to go the extra mile. That, too, sends a message to superiors, the organization and the personal environment in general.
You can read more about the Vienna Management Academy, which was relaunched in spring 2022, under this press release. Or you can take a look at the current program portfolio right now.
Findings from a study on the perception of academic continuing education from the perspective of HR managers
- Academic (further) education brings significant advantages for certain tasks and functional areas in a company. After all, from certain hierarchical levels upward, applicants with academic continuing education are preferred. Sometimes it is even a necessary prerequisite for some positions.
- Almost all of the companies surveyed consider lifelong learning to be essential for their employees: Continuing education enjoys a high priority in organizations, since one must be continuously up-to-date in one’s field of activity.
- The study also shows that HR professionals believe that the importance of academic training in companies will continue to increase – especially in light of the fact that the half-life of knowledge is rapidly decreasing.
- Now that the pace of change in all areas of life is accelerating, it is becoming necessary to refresh existing (specialist) knowledge in shorter cycles.
- The survey confirms that graduates of a continuing education program do better in terms of income than before.
- The costs associated with continuing education and training programs are therefore amortized relatively quickly by the expected jumps in salary.
Speaking of amortization of continuing education costs: What do I get out of studying at the Vienna Management Academy?
Wolfgang Vrzal is Head of Vienna Management Academy – so a good place to start to answer this specific question:
“In a subject area that deals with management and the other focal points of our continuing education track, the cost of education can pay for itself much more quickly than in a specific subject area.”
Why is that? In the specialist areas, hierarchy and salary leaps are rarely possible on the same scale as in the management area – unless you take on management responsibility. And this requires specific skills in the areas of management, leadership, communication and sustainability, which we teach at the Vienna Management Academy in addition to the respective technical content.
The various fields of study offered at FHWien der WKW are precisely these pushers that can bring experts in a specialist discipline into a management position. One click will take you directly to the current continuing education programs of the Vienna Management Academy. True to the motto “From good to great!”
Every continuing education program is also a development of one’s own personality
“The personal development of the graduates is in part – without exaggerating – quite phenomenal!” Manfred Schieber, Head of Program International MBA in Management & Communications
This is because of the fact that you meet new people who have different skills in their professional environment and are socialized differently. As a result, you are confronted with new perspectives. You’re taken out of your usual thought patterns and look beyond the end of your nose. With each continuing education, new topics and questions emerge – and that makes us realize, “I know that I know nothing.”
This fascinates and motivates. This is precisely where lifelong learning comes in.