Integration in Linz

Linz has many faces. People from 153 different countries live in the city. As of 1. January 2017 a total of 44,704 persons who live in Linz were not Austrian citizens. That is 21.9 percent of the 203,957 people whose main residence is in that city. About 28 percent of these people have immigrant background.

Decades ago the capital of Upper Austria began to react to the changing social situation. It can look back upon a long tradition of competence in dealing with ethnic diversity. The Integration Office began its existence in 1991 and the Committee for Immigration and Integration was founded in 1996. In 2009 a separate department in the municipal government was set up to deal with this theme. That was illustrative of the greater importance accorded to matters involving immigration and integration; it gave an impulse for further positive developments in those areas. The package of Integration Measures that was passed in 2010 and the “New Social Program of Linz”, which was established in 2011, are the foundations upon which the integration policies of Linz are based.

The two foundations of the integration policies in Linz

The package of Integration measures and the focus on integration in the Social Program of 2011 are the points of departure for efforts to achieve better coexistence in Linz. They emphasize language learning in the nursery schools of the city, and the children and youth services of the municipal government have been implementing these  measures since autumn 2011.

Within the framework of the “Sprachförderung NEU” program, which is unique in Austria, all of the girls and boys (with and without immigrant backgrounds) who are found to have language deficits receive training in German from their first day in nursery school on. In the three years of nursery school a child can receive up to 540 hours of German language instruction, taught by trainers who have been trained for this task in a manner that is appropriate for his/her age.

Their progress is evaluated twice a year. A study of the University of Hamburg showed that it is effective. There are also a number of other special language and learning projects designed to promote bilingualism in children whose native language is not German. An overview of all of the integration projects in Linz is provided by the following description of the package of integration measures and the new social program of the city.

The Municipal Council of Linz approved the package of integration measures which comprises 23 points on April 22, 2010. The concrete projects can be divided into nine thematic areas. 

The package of integration measures in detail:

Thematic area Projects
Projects for a more intensive promotion of language
  • Expansion of the program to promote language development in nursery school (Language Promotion NEW)
  • Expansion of the “Rucksack-Model“
  • Project „Mama learns German“
  • Project “Reading Tandem“
  • More literature in foreign languages in the Tower of Knowledge (VHS)
For an enhanced promotion of learning
  • Promoting learning in the childcare facilities of the city for children up to the age of three (“Horte”).
  • Learning promotion in cooperation with third persons
For an improved educational partnership
  • Education of parents by new parent associations
  • Enhanced involvement of parents in nursery schools
For a better neighborhood
  • Work in the districts of the city
  • Person responsible for integration appointed by the GWG, the cooperative housing association of the city
  • Training for GWG-employees
  • Mediators for conflict situations
For a better acknowledgement of immigrant culture
  • Concept “immigrant culture in Linz“
  • ”The House of Cultures”
For additional sports offerings
  • Promote the offerings of the sports associations for immigrants
  • Project “Midnight Sports And Music“
For the removal of barriers in the health system
  • Info-Guide “Healthy in Linz“
  • Information campaigns in immigrant associations
For clear offers to promote the orientation of adolescents
  • Club der Begegnung (Club for Encounters)
  • Media work in the media workshops
For an intercultural opening of the
municipal administration
  • Ongoing intercultural education for employees
  • Information guide brochure “Welcome to Linz“

The social program of Linz

The social program of Linz “Linz, a good city to live in – social security and justice“ is a continuation and further development of the projects of the Integration Package 2010. One chapter entitled “Living Diversity”, deals with the challenges of integration and proposes 17 concrete measures and projects to attain its five goals. A majority of the Municipal Council members voted for this new social program on November 24, 2011.

An overview of the chapter „Living Diversity“, the social program of Linz: Goals, measures and projects

Goals Measures and projects
Enhancement of the professional qualifications of immigrants
  • Create modular continuing education
  • Create possibilities for training in the social and health care professions
Enhancement of the
intercultural opening
of the municipal
administration
  • Increasing the number of employees with immigrant backgrounds in the Enterprise Group Linz (UGL) on the basis of the Upper Austrian Objectification Law
  • Intercultural opening of services of the city
  • Purposeful offers for continuing intercultural training for UGL employees
Development of new
channels of information
to the immigrants
  • Setting up of new parent associations for special language and ethnical groups
  • More information evenings in the childcare facilities of the city are to be held in the native languages of the parents
  • Information campaigns in the immigrant associations
  • Enhancement of the educational work
Intensification of the
language training
  • Further development of the “Rucksack Model“
  • Expansion of the project “Mama learns German“, when the need arises
  • Expansion of the Foreign Language Library in the Tower of Knowledge
  • Promote native languages with the goal of attaining multilingualism
Creation of
opportunities for
intercultural
encounters
  • Establish a House of Cultures in Linz
  • Work out and implement a concept for “Immigrant Culture in Linz“
  • Continue the media work in the media workshop of the Tower of Knowledge
  • The city of Linz should give a prize to promote work in the field of integration

The social program of Linz “Linz, a good city to live in – social security and justice“ is a continuation and further development of the projects of the Integration Package 2010. One chapter entitled “Living Diversity”, deals with the challenges of integration and proposes 17 concrete measures and projects to attain its five goals. A majority of the Municipal Council members voted for this new social program on November 24, 2011.

An overview of the chapter „Living Diversity“, the social program of Linz: Goals, measures and projects

Goals Measures and projects
Enhancement of the professional qualifications of immigrants
  • Create modular continuing education
  • Create possibilities for training in the social and health care professions
Enhancement of the
intercultural opening
of the municipal
administration
  • Increasing the number of employees with immigrant backgrounds in the Enterprise Group Linz (UGL) on the basis of the Upper Austrian Objectification Law
  • Intercultural opening of services of the city
  • Purposeful offers for continuing intercultural training for UGL employees
Development of new
channels of information
to the immigrants
  • Setting up of new parent associations for special language and ethnical groups
  • More information evenings in the childcare facilities of the city are to be held in the native languages of the parents
  • Information campaigns in the immigrant associations
  • Enhancement of the educational work
Intensification of the
language training
  • Further development of the “Rucksack Model“
  • Expansion of the project “Mama learns German“, when the need arises
  • Expansion of the Foreign Language Library in the Tower of Knowledge
  • Promote native languages with the goal of attaining multilingualism
Creation of
opportunities for
intercultural
encounters
  • Establish a House of Cultures in Linz
  • Work out and implement a concept for “Immigrant Culture in Linz“
  • Continue the media work in the media workshop of the Tower of Knowledge
  • The city of Linz should give a prize to promote work in the field of integration

The 3 pillars of integration

The Advisory Committe for Immigration and Integration (MIB) represents the political interests of all of the citizens of Linz with immigrant backgrounds. It currently consists of 19 unsalaried appointed members. Besides, each political fraction that is represented in the Municipal Council (SPÖ, FPÖ, ÖVP, Grünen [Green Party], NEOS) sends one Community Councilor to the MIB, who has an advisory vote. Its goals are, among others, to see that the interests of immigrants are properly represented at the communal level, to encourage mutual understanding among immigrants of different origins and to support concrete integration projects. Since 17th March 2015 Kristina Balint, who is of Hungarian origin, has been the chairman of the committee.

The Department of Integration in the municipal government was created after the Municipal Council election of 2009. The Integration Department initiates concrete measures in the areas that are within its sphere of competence, according to the division of competences between the federation, the provinces and the communities. It focusses especially on the promotion of German language learning (the program “Sprachförderung NEU) within the framework of the Package of Integration Measures and the New Social Program of Linz.

The Integration Office is the place people from Linz turn to for information about the theme Integration. It also develops and coordinates projects, organizes events (including ones for adolescents), podium discussions and scientific symposia. It is responsible for networking with NGOs and integration organizations, for doing basic scientific work, for opening the municipal administration to interculturality and for public relations. Since 2016 Mag.a phil. Ena Rogalo, the person responsible for integration work in Linz, has been directing the office.

The Advisory Committe for Immigration and Integration (MIB) represents the political interests of all of the citizens of Linz with immigrant backgrounds. It currently consists of 19 unsalaried appointed members. Besides, each political fraction that is represented in the Municipal Council (SPÖ, FPÖ, ÖVP, Grünen [Green Party], NEOS) sends one Community Councilor to the MIB, who has an advisory vote. Its goals are, among others, to see that the interests of immigrants are properly represented at the communal level, to encourage mutual understanding among immigrants of different origins and to support concrete integration projects. Since 17th March 2015 Kristina Balint, who is of Hungarian origin, has been the chairman of the committee.