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The Research Society Burgenland (Burgenländische Forschungsgesellschaft / BFG) was founded in 1987 as an NGO and non-profit organisation. It has the legal status of an Verein and is located in Eisenstadt, the capital of the Austrian federal province of Burgenland. It is run by an honorary board and a board of management and has permanent members of staff. The BFG is an interface between science and research on the one hand and adult education on the other. The focus of its work lies with questions of the historical, political, social and cultural development of Burgenland and its translation into regional education activities. In the course of its work, the BFG participates as coordinator or partner in a range of regional and transnational projects, organises conferences, lectures and workshops, and publishes project reports and other publications, as well as functioning as a regional service and contact point for students, academics, teachers and those working in adult education. The BFG has from its inception been a regular member of the Burgenland Association of Adult Education Institutions (Burgenländischen Konferenz der Erwachsenenbildung / BuKEB).

Aims, Objectives, Programmes, Target Groups

Since Austria joined the EU in 1996, the BFG has taken part in various EU programmes and thereby made a significant contribution to strengthening the European dimension of adult education in Burgenland. The BFG was the first and remains the only adult education institution in Burgenland to have coordinated a transnational cooperation project in the framework of the SOCRATES / GRUNDTVIG 1. The BFG was also the first such organisation in Burgenland to participate with a project in the GRUNDTVIG 2 (Learningpartnerships) programme. Since then, the BFG has participated either as a coordinating or partner body in all four of the GRUNDTVIG programmes. An important factor here was the cooperation between the Burgenländische Forschungsgesellschaft and the Burgenländischen Konferenz der Erwachsenenbildung (BuKEB). This is certainly one reason for the subsequent participation by other member organisations of BuKEB in the GRUNDTVIG programme, which has led to ever greater involvement of the European dimension in adult education in Burgenland. The BFG is the regional promoter for the SOCRATES / GRUNDTVIG programme in Austria.

Cross-border Relations

Burgenland is one of the nine federal provinces of Austria situated in the east of the country and with borders to Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, and more recently since the accession of Hungary and Slovakia to the European Union, special attention has been paid to cross-border cooperation in the Austria-Hungary-Slovakian border region. In the context of the question of the role border regions may play in the process of European integration, the focus lies with developing common structures and networks in non-school based education and in the area of lifelong learning. The aim is to accelerate the process of cross-border cooperation in the Burgenland-Hungary-Slovakian border region and to build up information and communications networks. This can be achieved through the organisation of contact meetings, study trips, workshops, seminars and conferences. This is intended to create a basis upon which to plan the implementation of transnational projects in the future.

Subject Areas

Adult Education and Lifelong Learning
Politics | Research | Innovation | Networking

Contemporary History and Political Education
Regionale History | Active Citizenship | European Citizenship

Education information Burgenland
Educational Online-Service Burgenland

Office of BuKEB
Educational information system of Burgenland BIS | Regional LLL-Strategy Burgenland

Koordinierungsstelle AusBildung bis 18 Burgenland
Jugendcoaching | Produktionsschulen | AusBildung bis 18

Board

Dr.in Petra HERCZEG, CHAIRWOMAN, Department of Communication of the University Vienna
Mag. Ernst HOLZINGER, 2. CHAIRMAN, Federal Chancellery of Austria, Vienna
Mag. Manfred DREISZKER, SECRETARY, Bureau of the Government of Burgenland, Dep. of European Affairs and Statistics
Wolfgang JANDRISITS, CASHIER, Municipal Office of Freistadt Eisenstadt

Accountants
Mag. Andreas POLSTERER, 1. ACCOUNTANT
Mag.a Judith CSARMANN, 2. ACCOUNTANT