In 2019, WU and its cooperation partners the Berndorf Private Foundation and the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV) launched WU4Juniors, a comprehensive and free educational program for young people. WU4Juniors offers a wide range of online modules and a Summer School held on campus to give teenagers access to high-quality educational content in the fields of finance, economics, business, and law. Since the start of the program, more than 11,000 users have signed up for WU4Juniors on WU’s eLearning platform LearnPublic. To date, these users have completed a total of almost 3,000 online modules. The modules can be taken at any time. The application deadline for the WU4Juniors Summer School is March 31.

13 topics (e.g. stocks, poverty, debt, the system of social partnership, global trade) are currently available on WU’s online learning platform LearnPublic (currently available only in German). These topics include almost 50 online modules that have been prepared in cooperation with 21 WU professors and 9 experts from the fields of business and economics. The section on contracts has proven to be particularly popular. It includes modules that look at how contracts are concluded and what elements a purchase contract must contain. The topic of sustainable development is one of the latest additions on the platform, featuring modules that explain what sustainable development actually means and how individual members of society can contribute to it. Users earn a badge for every topic they complete. Everyone who successfully completes the basic module on the circular flow of economic activities and key economic agents and at least 1 additional module receives a WU4Juniors certificate.

Summer School offers an in-depth look at business and economics

Teenagers who have received the WU4Juniors certificate and have earned at least 3 badges are entitled to participate in the WU4Juniors Summer School. During 1 week in summer, WU opens its doors to motivated young people aged 16 to 19 to offer them a unique opportunity to dive deep into the fascinating world of business and economics and get a glimpse of what it’s like to study at a university. Summer School participants earn credits that can be transferred to a WU degree program later on. The participants do project work in small groups, investigating a business- or economics-related topic and presenting the results at the end of the week. WU professors support them with academic input and provide insights into various economic and business perspectives. In addition, the participants also have the opportunity to find out more about the day-to-day work of WU researchers and get to look behind the scenes of how business enterprises operate. In 2020, 36 people from 8 countries participated in the WU4Juniors Summer School.

The 2021 Summer School will take place from July 12 to 16, 2021. Applications are being accepted until March 31.

You can find out more about what WU4Juniors has to offer at: wu.at/wu4juniors (in German)

For more information about the Summer School and the application requirements, please click this link.