Vienna Business School HAKIII Schoenborngasse, Austria
We have always tried to communicate with schools in other European countries and to support our students' participation in international activities and projects, but since we have become a myEurope school (2001), we have more and more emphasized this aspect of our school life. One of the chief achievements is certainly, the integration of Europe into our daily lessons and the cooperation on the hand of our training firms with other training firms and on the other hand of classes in general with other classes worldwide.
Our school, the VBS-HAKIII Schoenborngasse is housed in a very old building which dates back to the 1920s.The school has about 50 teachers and 500 students in three different types of school:
A commercial school (3 years, attended by students of age 14-17);
The commercial college (5 years, attended by students age 14-19);
The 'Aufbaulehrgang' (3 years, attended by students age 17-20 after having successfully finished the commercial school).
The school is situated in Vienna, in the 8th district. Our students are coming not only from all social layers but also from many nationalities, not only European but also Asian and African.
One of the most important special qualities of the school is the way how teachers try to treat each student as a unique individual. We all know, how difficult life may be - or seem to be - for young people between 14 and 20. Therefore all teachers at the VBS-HAKIII Schoenborngasse always do their best to support students individually whenever a problem occurs. Of course, we do that in our spare time, because during lessons teaching is our main purpose.
Each school year includes at least one out-of-school activity:
In the first year, students spend their first days getting to know the school better. In this activity they are supported by students from a higher partner class. Usually in spring they go on an outdoor week which helps them again get to know each other better.
In the second year they can attend a sports week, mostly combining all types of winter and summer sports activities.
In the third year we offer them the chance travel to an English speaking country in order to attend a language course there and to become familiar with the culture and customs of this country.
In their fourth year they have another chance for sports activities, this time combined with business topics.
A similar language program as in the third year is offered in the fourth year for the second language students study (either French or Italian).
Integrating ICT into the curriculum
As we started teaching in notebook classes in 2001, it is essential for us to offer as many incentives as possible for our students to steadily improve their skills and proficiencies in using ICT in their daily (school) lives. We all know very well, how important these skills are for their future business lives, and therefore try to integrate ICT into our lessons intensively. It goes without saying, that all our classrooms are equipped with wireless LAN access points. Of course, we also use TV, video and DVD technology, the latter being esp. useful for language lessons, as we can switch from one language to the other quickly on a DVD.
Some challenges our school is ready to face over the next years
Another aspect of our school philosophy is steady innovation. Therefore we are going to introduce a special type of business school from September 2005 onwards. It is called HAK Plus and offers additional challenges for especially talented and motivated young people, who sometimes have the impression that they cannot realise all their abilities in the average school curriculum. Of course, we will also offer a special coaching for these young people in their first two years at our school, and if one or the other comes to the conclusion, that they feel the HAK Plus is too strenuous for them, they can always change to the traditional business school.
The school is situated in Vienna, in the 8th district. Our students are coming not only from all social layers but also from many nationalities, not only European but also Asian and African. 
Another aspect of our school philosophy is steady innovation. Therefore we are going to introduce a special type of business school from September 2005 onwards. It is called HAK Plus and offers additional challenges for especially talented and motivated young people, who sometimes have the impression that they cannot realise all their abilities in the average school curriculum. Of course, we will also offer a special coaching for these young people in their first two years at our school, and if one or the other comes to the conclusion, that they feel the HAK Plus is too strenuous for them, they can always change to the traditional business school.
