400 visitors at the second voestalpine student evening in Leoben

2017-03-07 |

Due to their successful partnership, the voestalpine Group and Montanuniversität Leoben are major drivers of research and development in Austria. At the second voestalpine student evening held at the Montanuniversität Leoben on March 6, future graduates were given the opportunity to see for themselves the innovative power of the global technology and capital goods group. Around 400 students took the opportunity to find out more about voestalpine, exploring potential career opportunities, and meeting members of the Management Board in person.

After the event was first successfully held in 2014, the six Management Board members of voestalpine AG invited students to the second voestalpine student evening held yesterday in the Erzherzog Johann wing at the Montanuniversität Leoben and designed to give the future graduates an insight into their company. After the speeches, Wolfgang Eder, Robert Ottel, Herbert Eibensteiner, Peter Schwab, Franz Kainersdorfer, and Franz Rotter—the last two themselves graduates of the Montanuniversität—answered questions from students about innovation, internationalization, future projects, and working environment.

Decades of joint research

voestalpine, Austria’s most research-intensive company with an annual R&D budget of over EUR 150 million, and the Montanuniversität Leoben, a university globally recognized as a specialist in its sector, enjoy many years of successful partnership. In the past years alone the voestalpine Group has invested several million euros in direct research collaboration with this institution, widely recognized as an innovation hub. The numerous joint projects also secure Austria’s position as a business location over the long term. Besides, voestalpine issues research contracts, commissions laboratory services, and supports professorships, excursions, and a range of projects including Metaldays and SCHOOL@MUL, designed to promote an interest in technology amongst school pupils.

The Montanuniversität Leoben is a guarantee of research and teaching at the highest level. We benefit from knowledge transfer in the area of process development as well as applied research, and in personnel recruitment, attracting top graduates with an excellent level of know-how in our key research fields.

Wolfgang Eder, Chairman of the Management Board of voestalpine AG

Wilfried Eichlseder, Rector of the Montanuniversität Leoben, is also delighted about the close collaboration with voestalpine.

I regard it as an indication of the special esteem in which voestalpine holds our
institution that all the members of the Management Board have taken the time to present
themselves here in Leoben as a potential employer

Wilfried Eichlseder, Rector of the Montanuniversität Leoben

Graduates in demand at the voestalpine Group

Almost 500 graduates of the Montanuniversität Leoben now work in the Group, demonstrating voestalpine’s standing as a valued employer. The path to becoming a future employee often involves an internship, experience as a student trainee, or a thesis or dissertation supervised by voestalpine staff. The demand for highly qualified technical staff is increasing, opening up excellent career opportunities at voestalpine for graduates with the relevant skills. Future employees can look forward to an exciting and challenging working environment with modern working conditions and many opportunities for personal development, not just in Austria or Europe, but also in many other countries around the world. voestalpine secures its future by investing over EUR 50 million each year in professional development for its employees.

voestalpine in Styria

Three of the four voestalpine Group divisions—the Metal Engineering Division, the Metal Forming Division, and the Special Steel Division—make a key contribution to regional value creation in Styria through their thirteen production companies and a holding company, spread over nine sites. More than 9,000 employees generated total revenue of EUR 3.2 billion during the business year 2015/16. Investment volume over the past ten years amounted to significantly more than EUR 3 billion, with an average export quota of almost 70 percent. voestalpine companies in Styria are currently training around 350 apprentices in 16 trades, thereby securing their future employment prospects.

The voestalpine Group

In its business segments, voestalpine is a globally leading technology and capital goods group with a unique combination of material and processing expertise. voestalpine, which operates globally, has around 500 Group companies and locations in more than 50 countries on all five continents. It has been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1995. With its top-quality products and system solutions using steel and other metals, it is one of the leading partners to the automotive and consumer goods industries in Europe and to the oil and gas industries worldwide. The voestalpine Group is also the world market leader in turnout technology, special rails, tool steel, and special sections. In the business year 2015/16, the Group generated revenue of EUR 11.1 billion, with an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 1.6 billion; it has 48,500 employees worldwide, who are collectively a major shareholder in the company with a stake of 14.5 percent.