39. Agreement in accordance with Art. 15a B-VG between the Federal Government and the Länder on the promotion of courses for adults in the area of basic education/basic skills as well as of courses for the catching up of the compulsory school leaving qualification

The National Council has decided:

The conclusion of the present agreement pursuant to Art. 15a B-VG is hereby approved.

The federal government-represented by the federal government-and the countries of Burgenland, Carinthia, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Vienna-represented by the provincial governor and/or the state of Austria. the provincial governor-hereinafter referred to as the contracting party-have agreed to conclude the following agreement pursuant to Art. 15a of the Federal Constitutional Law:

Article 1

Objective

In order to provide adult persons with better access to the labour market without a sufficient minimum qualification, and to promote their social integration, the aim is to "basic education/basic skills" and " catching up with the Compulsory school leaving " is an Austria-wide uniform funding programme, coordinated between the Federal Government and the Länder.

Article 2

Principles

(1) The support programme is structured according to the different levels of qualification "Basic Education/Basic Competences" and "Follow-up of the compulsory school qualification" into two programme areas, each for which specific criteria with regard to the Quality and cost calculation apply. The two programme areas are to be implemented free of charge for participants and participants in accordance with the following provisions.

(2) The funding programme aims at the optimal allocation of national and country-specific resources, in order to create optimal conditions for the learners and, in particular, to achieve young adults with a corresponding qualification requirement. Quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation as well as the definition of the access criteria shall be carried out in accordance with uniform and mutually agreed standards. The specific funding decision is made by the country.

(3) The programme areas "Basic Education/Basic Competences" as well as "Follow-up of the compulsory school leaving" are financed as measures of support, i.e. the respective educational institution is responsible for carrying out the training.

(4) In order to promote the development of sustainable structures and to ensure a consistent target group resolution, the agreements between the sponsors and the training providers should be concluded for several years as far as possible, to the extent that this is the case. is required to achieve the objectives.

(5) The detailed rules necessary for the operational implementation and qualitative validation of the programme areas must be defined by the steering group and made publicly available in a programming document (Art. 5 (3) (2). The programming document shall have the function of a common reference document for the educational institutions and the unwinding bodies.

(6) Offers or facilities which are not part of the funding programme, or do not fulfil the admission requirements, remain unaffected by this agreement and are not eligible for funding from the programme. A promotion of these offers or Institutions outside the joint funding programme shall remain unbehaved to the Contracting Parties.

Article 3

Financing

(1) The provision of direct funding for the implementation of the programme areas shall be carried out by the respective country and by the Federal Government, in each case half.

(2) The eligibility criteria laid down in Article 4 of this Agreement shall be based on both the grant recognition and the financial statement of the grant.

(3) In the programme area "Basic Education/Basic Competences", the Federal Government shall double any euro provided by the Länder in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement in accordance with the following planning data per country and financial year.

Party	2012 (in EURO)	2013 (in EURO)	2014 (in EURO)	Total (in EURO)
Burgenland	84.000	84.000	96.000	264.000
Carinthia	98.440	112.500	140.625	351.565
Lower Austria	421.875	421.875	421.875	1.265.625
Upper Austria	431.250	453.750	474.375	1.359.375
Salzburg	200.000	200.000	200.000	600.000
Steiermark	150.000	150.000	150.000	450.000
Tyrol	140.630	154.690	168.750	464.070
Vorarlberg	75.000	75.000	75.000	225.000
Vienna	1.900.000	2.000.000	2.000.000	5.900.000
Total Countries	3.501.195	3.651.815	3.726.625	10.879.635
Total Bund	3.501.195	3.651.815	3.726.625	10.879.635

(4) In the programme area "Catching up of compulsory school leaving", the Federal Government doubles any euro provided by the Länder in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement, in accordance with the following planning data per country and financial year.

Party	2012 (in EURO)	2013 (in EURO)	2014 (in EURO)	Total (in EURO)
Burgenland	108.240	121.770	135.300	365.310
Carinthia	189.350	243.450	297.550	730.350
Lower Austria	270.440	283.960	297.480	851.880
Upper Austria	594.550	624.277	654.005	1.872.832
Salzburg	484.000	484.000	484.000	1.452.000
Steiermark	400.000	400.000	400.000	1.200.000
Tyrol	162.260	256.920	311.000	730.180
Vorarlberg	95.700	198.000	198.000	491.700
Vienna	2.488.504	2.894.161	3.326.862	8.709.527
Total Countries	4.793.044	5.506.538	6.104.197	16.403.779
Total Bund	4.793.044	5.506.538	6.104.197	16.403.779

(5) The following number of persons of the respective target group shall be achieved throughout Austria in the case of full provision according to the tabular presentation in accordance with paragraphs 3 and 4:

Program area	Programme Year 2012	Programme Year 2013	Programme Year 2014	Total
Base Image/ Basic skills	2.098	2.315	2.361	6.774
Catching up Compulsory school leaving certificate	1.699	1.956	2.177	5.832

(6) The costs of the administrative burden in the respective area of responsibility shall be borne by each Party itself, unless otherwise provided in this Agreement.

Article 4

Target groups, funding rates and calculation modalities

(1) For the programme area "Basic Education/Basic Competences", the Contracting Parties shall determine the following key data for the implementation of the promotion of supply:

1.		Target groups of the programme area "Basic Education/Basic Competences" are:
a)			Persons with a first language German, who fulfil compulsory schooling, but do not achieve a positive compulsory school leaving certificate and have deficits in the basic skills;
b)			Persons with a positive compulsory education, who nevertheless have deficits (e.g. secondary illiteracy, discalkulia);
c)			People with a migration background and lack of basic and basic skills.
2.		The overall eligible frame per participant and measure shall be at least 100 and not more than 400 teaching units;
3.		The size of the learning groups may not exceed 10 participants:
4.		The calculated cost rate per unit of instruction is between EUR 100, -- and EUR 200, -- and depends on the number of trainers in each group, a possible childcare offer, the number of individual hours. for learning, etc.;
5.		Costs incurred by participants who cancel the measures prematurely may be used by the institution on the basis of the average price-specific costs per participant and teaching unit up to an extent of 40 units of instruction aliquot with the donor is charged. This also applies to the integrated consultation and entry phase. For all other participants (i.e., a course attendance of more than 40 UE), the rate of charge to be used is 100% of the calculated average cost per participant and course measure.

(2) For the programme area "Catching up of compulsory school leaving", the Contracting Parties shall determine the basic data for the implementation of the promotion of the offer as follows:

1.		Target groups of the programme area "Follow-up of the compulsory school qualification" are:
a)			Young people and adults, who do not have a positive conclusion of the 8. Have a school level;
b)			Young people and adults, who are the 4. Class Hauptschule in individual items have a negative conclusion and now want to complete these subjects in order to receive a positive overall certificate.
2.		The maximum eligible frame is 1,160 units per participant, with eligible offers not to be less than the minimum of 986 units of instruction;
3.		The calculatory standard cost rate per graduate is EUR 6,600, --;
4.		The funding in the programme area "Follow-up of the compulsory school leaving" includes an incentive model for the educational institutions. The full funding will only be given to the educational institution if the participant and/or the participant actually successfully completed the measure and obtained the final certificate. In the event of an abortion by the participant or the participant will only receive 80% of the full cost set (i.e. max. EUR 5,280, --) to the educational institution;
5.		The flat-rate clearing key for participants, which only requires parts of the offer, provides for a frame of 598 teaching units and/or 51.5% of the full course of the course per person. Costs incurred by participants who cancel the measures prematurely can, in turn, be paid by the educational institution on the basis of the general provisions (i.e. by 20% reduction of the aid rate if the measure is not successful) with the Funding providers shall be charged.

Article 5

Control Group

(1) The Contracting Parties shall set up a steering group, each of which shall be one representative; one representative of each country and four representatives, respectively Representatives of the federal government with voting rights belong. The social partners shall be given an advisory vote. The chairman, who is not entitled to vote, is appointed by the Federal Minister for Education, Arts and Culture.

(2) The steering group shall take its decisions in the presence of at least half of the members entitled to vote by a ¾ majority of the voting members present, with regard to the task referred to in paragraph 3 (2) of the second subparagraph. The convocation shall be carried out by the the Chairman as required, but at least twice a year. Invitation and session preparation are made by the office.

(3) The tasks of the steering group are:

1.		preparation of a rules of procedure;
2.		Specify detailed rules for the implementation of the programme in accordance with Art. 2 (5). This applies in particular to regulations concerning the quality of the offer concept, the qualification of the personnel employed and the infrastructural conditions of the training providers;
3.		ordering and convening the experts of the accreditation group and monitoring group, as well as decision-making of the business regulations of these two groups;
4.		Programme supervision, determination of the criteria for the participants-monitoring and evaluation of current measures (monitoring, quarterly and annual reports, etc.) (=quantitative evaluation);
5.		Preparation or Decision-making of the programme evaluation and acceptance of the evaluation report (=qualitative evaluation);
6.		Elaboration of proposals for the further development and improvement of the programme, provided that this is necessary and insofar as the provisions of this Agreement which are relevant to the budget planning of the Länder and of the Federal Government do not affect this are;
7.		Mutual information (federal-state office) as well as information transfer to the providers in the countries and the federal government.

(4) The Steering Group may contribute to meetings of experts and respondents, in particular in the field of science and research.

(5) The costs of the member of the steering group sent by the respective country shall be borne by the country concerned, and the costs of the members of the steering group sent by the Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture shall be borne by the Federal Government.

Article 6

Office

(1) The Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture shall establish a place of business in order to carry out the operational business of the steering group, the accreditation group and the monitoring group.

(2) The tasks of the office are:

1.		Advice and professional support for the applicants who wish to receive accreditation;
2.		preparation and documentation of the meetings of the steering group and of the accreditation group;
3.		The overall incidence of implementing decisions in the countries;
4.		Overall coordination of reporting and reporting for the control group.

(3) The costs for the office shall be borne by the Federal Government.

Article 7

Accreditation Group

(1) An accreditation group shall be appointed for the examination of the minimum quality requirements of the educational measures submitted, which shall take its decisions by a two-thirds majority. Circulatory decisions are possible. The successful accreditation of an offer in accordance with the criteria laid down in Article 4 as well as the detailed rules relating thereto pursuant to Article 5 (3) (1) is a prerequisite for the eligibility of educational measures within the framework of these Agreement.

(2) The accreditation group consists of six independent experts, who are appointed by the steering group for three years. A one-time extension of the members of the accreditation group is possible. Employees of federal or state authorities as well as institutions that can be directly assigned by these authorities are excluded from the possibility of ordering. This is also true for employees of potential promotional advertisers. Three experts will be nominated by the representatives of the Länder in the steering group and three experts from the representatives of the Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture.

(3) The tasks of the Accreditation Group are:

1.		Examination of the offers of training providers on the basis of the accreditation request submitted and the decision to determine whether the corresponding offer on the basis of the provisions of Art. 4 and the corresponding provisions, as defined in Article 2 (5) detailed rules are to be accredited or not;
2.		Where appropriate, the wording of rectification orders to the applicants;
3.		Participation in reporting and coordination with the office;
4.		Participation in the meetings of the steering group at the invitation.

(4) The accreditation group has to process incoming accreditation as well as related supplementary or post-constricted documents within 8 weeks, respectively. in this period, if necessary, to formulate a rectification order.

(5) The accreditation group shall meet as required, but at least quarterly. A member of the office shall take part in the meetings without voting rights.

(6) The costs for the members of the accreditation group shall be borne by the Federal Government.

(7) A successful accreditation does not give rise to any legal entitlement to financial support for an educational institution.

Article 8

Monitoring Group

(1) The monitoring group responsible for the entire impact analysis (monitoring and evaluation) includes six experts, who are appointed by the steering group for three years each. Three experts will be nominated by the representatives of the Länder in the steering group and three experts from the representatives of the Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture. Reorder is possible.

(2) Experts who belong to the accreditation group are excluded from the nomination into the monitoring group and vice versa.

(3) The tasks of the monitoring group are:

1.		Professional supervision and monitoring of the content of the monitoring;
2.		Establishment of a meaningful documentation system in accordance with the guidance of the steering group;
3.		Evaluation of the data stock and the constitution of the quarterly reports;
4.		Identify any weak points and potential for action;
5.		Participation in the annual report/vote with the office;
6.		Participation in the meetings of the steering group at the invitation.

(4) The costs for the members of the monitoring group shall be borne by the Federal Government.

Article 9

Federal payments

(1) The Federal Government's share in direct aid payments in accordance with Art. 3 shall be refunded by the Länder to the accounts indicated by the Länder on a semi-annual basis against proof of payment of the prepayment in accordance with the procedure. The deadline for proof of proof is 31 March and 30 September. The billing date is 30 April and 30. October of each year. The Federal Government's payment is made in June and early December.

(2) As proof of the promotion of supply, the country has to present the level of funding per programme area, with the funding amounts to be shown separately according to the respective educational institutions.

(3) The payment shall be made by the Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture. This preserves the examination of the dedicated use of the funding by the educational institutions as well as the proper accounting. Any repayment obligations pursuant to Art. 12 (6) may be included in the payment.

Article 10

Use of free-value funds

(1) Of individual countries not or not fully recalled and thus released funds of the Federation can be divided among other countries, if there is an additional need in these countries and the respective national funds in the extent of the federal allocation are increased. The basic financing key (50:50) is maintained in every case.

(2) A shift in financial resources between the programme areas "Basic Education/Basic Competences" and "Catching up of the compulsory school leaving" is within a country up to a maximum of 20% of the agreed maximum funding amount in accordance with Art. 3 (3) and (4) if, in one of the two programme areas, the funds made available are not fully utilized, while in the other programme area an increased need is to be conserved. A precondition for such a shift of the means is the production of the agreement with the covenant.

Article 11

Publicity provisions

(1) The Contracting Parties undertake, within the framework of their public relations activities, to express the common support approach and to draw attention to the partnership's application of the funds.

(2) In all program-specific print and online products, the logo of the Länder-Bund-Förderinitiative, the logo of the Federal Ministry of Education, Art and the Federal Republic of Germany, are also always included in Annex 1, in addition to the corresponding language note. Culture and the respective country, respectively to place the participating countries in a clearly visible position and in an appropriate size.

Article 12

Monitoring, evaluation and controlling

(1) The implementation of the programme shall be subject to accompanying monitoring. The countries undertake to submit the following data to the office every six months in tabular form: the number of applications received, or the number of applications received. funding contracts, names of the requesting and/or institutions, the name of the programme area concerned, the number of participants per programme area and institution, and approved or the amount of funding per programme area and institution.

(2) The funding decisions of the settlement bodies in the countries shall be notified to the office in writing, in the case of negative decision-making under the guidance of the explanatory statement. Corresponding evaluations shall be carried out by the office in the context of the preparation of the annual report.

(3) The Federal Government undertakes, on the basis of the data transmitted by the educational institutions in accordance with Article 13 (3) (2) and the countries pursuant to Article 12 (1), to compile a total statistics for the programme in the course of the business unit every six months. The available data can also be viewed in the meantime by the countries.

(4) The use of funding, as well as the impact of free educational opportunities on the educational and employment opportunities of the participants, will be subject to an accompanying evaluation. The criteria for this are to be defined in the control group.

(5) The monitoring and evaluation costs shall be allocated between the Federal Government and the Länder in accordance with the key 50:50, each of which shall bear the share of the total cost of the percentage of the total cost of the total cost of the monitoring. Funding from the overall programme.

(6) The countries undertake to review the use of the funds in accordance with the law by the educational institutions and to report violations to the Federal Government. Claims made against the training providers are to be offset against the Federal Government in accordance with the payments actually made on the basis of the financing key 50:50.

Article 13

Support contracts

(1) Countries shall decide on the eligibility of the measures submitted by the educational institutions, accredited in accordance with Article 7 (1), on the basis of the following criteria:

1.		the overall balanced regional distribution of the measures;
2.		the overall target group balance of the measures;
3.		the corresponding budget availability.

(2) In order to ensure the necessary transparency and comparability, each grant contract shall show the following key figures:

a)			Course duration (number of lessons)
b)			Group Size (Number of Participants)
c)			Costs per course in Euro
d)			Costs per participant in Euro
e)			Costs per teaching unit in Euro
f)			Costs per participant and teaching unit in Euro

(3) Countries shall require educational institutions within the framework of their respective support contracts to:

1.		to comply with the same publicity provisions as in Article 11 (1) and (2) and to comply with the detailed rules adopted by the steering group in accordance with Article 2 (5) and published in the programming document;
2.		to participate in monitoring and programme evaluation in accordance with the criteria laid down by the steering group in accordance with Article 5 (3) (4), and to comply with the relevant reporting obligations to the office. This includes, in particular, the collection of participants ' data as well as data maintenance in the context of the IT-supported participant monitor;
3.		to grant, where appropriate, the inspection bodies of the Confederation an insight into all records and accounting documents relating to the programme for the purpose of examining the use of the funds in accordance with the relevant conditions, or at the request of all the information required.

Article 14

In-force pedals

(1) If up to the end of 30 April 2012

1.		the conditions required by the Federal constitution are available; and
2.		the communication of at least one country has arrived at the Federal Chancellery for the existence of the conditions required under the relevant national constitution,
the agreement shall enter into force 1. January 2012 force between the Federal Government and those countries whose communications have entered into force until 30 April 2012. If the conditions set out in Z 1 and 2 are not fulfilled until a later date, the agreement between the Federal Government and the countries concerned shall enter into force with the month following that date.

(2) If the agreement entered into force in accordance with paragraph 1 has entered into force and, before 1 July 2013, the notification by another country of the existence of the conditions required by the respective country constitution shall be submitted to the Federal Chancellery, the following shall be: Agreement between each such country and the previous Contracting Parties with the following month's serenas effective. After the end of June 30, 2013, announcements to the Federal Chancellery are unrespectful.

(3) If the first sentence of paragraph 1, which occurred in paragraph 1, second sentence or the conditions referred to in paragraph 2, has occurred, the Federal Chancellery shall inform the Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture as well as the countries thereof and the The date of the entry into force shall be communicated.

Article 15

Duration

(1) This Agreement shall apply in the light of the periods of settlement in accordance with Art. 9 (1) to 30 June 2015. The promotion of education measures ends with 31.12.2014.

(2) The Contracting Parties agree that the support programme should be continued and, in the longer term, secured in the event of a corresponding success. Therefore, in January 2014, and on the basis of the evaluation results available up to then, the Parties will negotiate on the future shaping of the promotion of basic educational attainment in the field of adult education. Include basic education.

(3) The Länder will, as a prerequisite for a possible extension of the funding initiative until 31 December 2013, meet a needs planning for the programme areas "Basic Education/Basic Competences", which takes account of the country-specific requirements. "recover the compulsory school leaving qualification", which corresponds to regional and target group-specific criteria.

Article 16

Deposit

This Agreement shall be drawn up in a single original. The original text will be deposited with the Federal Chancellery. This has to transmit certified copies of the agreement to the countries as counterparties to the agreement.

The agreement shall enter into force in accordance with the provisions of Article 14 (1), first sentence, 1. Jänner 2012 between the federal government and all countries in force.

Faymann