Since the mid-2000s a need for well-educated public affairs professionals emerged in Austria. In 2006, the University of Vienna established a postgraduate Master of Arts program with an specialization in public affairs. The extra-occupational program runs for four semesters with a workload of 120 ECTS-points. The program consists not of practical training only, but is founded upon a theoretical framework. It successfully integrates real world, experiential, learning into higher education. To graduate students have to write a master thesis and pass a final examination.The professionalization of industrial sectors is strongly related with the proper training of new entrants, ideally at an academic level. Over the last 35 years in Austria, there have been attempts by both professional associations and universities to institutionalize the academic education for communication disciplines. In most cases professional associations took the initiative. In cooperation with the University of Vienna, the public affairs industry established the first academic program for public affairs in the German-speaking world.Such a program faces various challenges: education for public affairs means educating for complexity; the political and economic environments are in constant progress; and societal acceptance for public affairs is -at best -ambivalent.This article examines the background for an academic education for public affairs, details the curriculum of the Viennese public affairs program and highlights some findings from a survey of the program's alumni.

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