Mensa Austria
Mensa Austria, or (in German) Mensa Österreich, was founded in 1964 by Dr. Georg Fischhof. Currently it has about 550 members, runs various local groups and organizes a large number of gatherings.
Mensa Austria
Mensa Austria has a board of seven voluntary directors each of whom is elected for a four-year term. The current chairman is Rudolf Challupner. The other members are Sandra Stanek (secretary general), Susanne Meyer (budget and finances), Andreas Pichler (relations to new members), Gert Mittring (intelligence research), Gerlinde Heil (academic support for gifted people) and Vera Fischhof (public relations).
Membership
Individual annual membership costs €44. Discounts are offered for students, retired persons and families. The membership package includes a bimonthly magazine called topIQ. Chief editor of topIQ is Peter Kemptner.
Testing
In Austria there is no tradition of IQ-scoring for school or university admission purposes. Thus taking the Mensa IQ Test is the usual way to become a member. However, it is also possible to have oneself tested at a psychologist's and join Mensa if the score is high enough.
Regions
Mensa Austria is subdivided into 9 regions, each led by a LocSec (= Local Secretary). Each region is identical with a federal state (Bundesland). The Vienna region is the one with the largest number of members: Almost 50% of all members of Mensa Austria are living in this region.
Regular Events
There are many regional events of Mensa Austria, especially in Vienna. Furthermore, there is an annual nationwide event called Mensa Charming, which takes place in a different federal state of Austria every year and is organized by the related local group.
