| CCNY-Austria
Educational Collaboration
by
Pola Rosen, Ed.D.
 President
Gregory H. Williams of the City College of New York, welcomed
a meeting of college personnel and high level Austrian education
ministers, quoting a letter from Mayor Bloomberg that thanked
the Austrians “for providing New York City with outstanding
math and science teachers to our secondary schools during a
critical time of the rebuilding of our school system.” Originally
focusing only on math and science teachers, the program now
includes Austrian teachers in other areas of need. The Austrian
government is now funding science research across the Atlantic.
The mayor also thanked Minister Elisabeth Gehrer for shepherding
the many cooperative, educational programs created during her
tenure as minister.
The
academic exchange was created by Dean Alfred S. Posamentier,
who began the linkage during the 1990 fall semester when he
was a Fullbright Professor at the University of Vienna. Dean
Posamentier wasted no time in establishing important links
with Minister Elisabeth Gehrer, Fe-deral Minister of Edu-cation,
Science and Cultural Affairs in Austria. Since 1998, 220 Austrian
teachers have been teaching in NYC. Currently ninety still
teach in New York City schools. The “Au-strians” this year
in-clude Hungarians, Slovaks, Germans, and other neighboring
countries.
 In
a personal interview with Minister Gehrer she explained that
there are quality standards for students after ages 10, 14
and 18 years. If the standards are not attained, students must
repeat one year. Vocational training is a serious option for
students at the age of 14 and leads an apprenticeship program,
which is highly regulated by the schools.
Dean
Posamentier also mentioned that CUNY’s only offshore master’s
degree, which is given in three cities in Austria, is still
flourishing after almost ten years of operation. This program
is for Austrian teachers of English to earn a CCNY master of
arts degree. CUNY professors teach blocked courses between
semesters. During her visit to City College, Minister Gerher,
in an effort to advance the cooperation between institutions,
offered to cover the cost of six visiting professors who would
each spend one semester teaching and doing research at CCNY.#
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