AUSTRIA

Austria offers a quality European education at several times less than the cost in neighbouring Switzerland. There are no quotas for international students and no entrance exams for most subjects — gathering your documents is enough. Vienna, meanwhile, consistently ranks among the world's best student cities, and the share of international students at Austrian universities is one of the highest in Europe.

What people usually come to study

For school pupils. Students come to Austria for an international secondary education at private boarding schools. Popular options include AMADEUS International School in Vienna (the capital's first boarding school, founded in 2014), St. Gilgen International School near Salzburg (around 250 pupils from 30 countries), Schloss Krumbach International School (housed in a 13th-century castle) and The American International School Salzburg (founded in 1976, with an American curriculum). Pupils live on campus in residences, usually in double or triple rooms with en-suite facilities, and the days are full: lessons, sport, the creative arts and self-study. The programmes are most often the American High School with Advanced Placement (AP) courses, and the British IGCSE and A-Level. Some schools make two foreign languages compulsory, and integrate music or art into the core programme (as at AMADEUS). Pupils range from 9 to 19 years of age, and the share of international pupils reaches 50–80% — they come from Germany, Russia, the USA, China, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

For students. Austria's public universities are hugely popular around the world. There are 372,247 higher education students here, of whom 86,862 are international. Over the past three decades that figure has more than tripled, from around 27,000 in the mid-1990s to more than 87,300 in the 2023/24 academic year. The share of international students is around 27% — one of the highest in Europe. The most popular fields are business and economics, engineering, computer science, music and art, and medicine. Austria is also known for its technical universities (TU Wien, TU Graz) and its universities of the arts.

What studying here is like

Secondary education. Austrian boarding schools sit in picturesque settings: in Vienna, in the Alps near Salzburg, and in castles not far from the capital. Classes are small — some schools have just 100 pupils at a teacher-to-pupil ratio of 1:3 — which allows for an individual approach and full immersion in the language environment (teaching is in English, German or both). Many schools require knowledge of at least two foreign languages.

Higher education. Austria has 22 public universities, of which 6 are universities of the arts, 3 are medical and 3 are technical, alongside 18 private universities, 21 universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen) and 14 universities of teacher education. A Bachelor's degree takes 3 years (6 semesters) and a Master's 2 years. The main advantage is that you can apply to many universities remotely, without being there in person, and entrance exams (where they exist) can also be taken online. Another important plus: you can apply to Austria straight after Year 11 (unlike Germany, which requires 1–2 years of university first). Applicants whose certificate does not meet Austrian standards for complete secondary education will, however, have to make up the difference — exams in school-curriculum subjects related to their chosen field (biology, chemistry and physics for medics; mathematics and physics for technical subjects). Teaching at public universities is mainly in German. There are few Bachelor's programmes in English (only around 260 across the whole country), but at Master's level the choice is far wider.

Visa requirements

Citizens of countries outside the EU need an Aufenthaltsbewilligung Studierende — a residence permit for students. This is not a classic visa but specifically a residence permit, issued for a year and then extended.

Main requirements:

• Confirmation of enrolment at an Austrian university
• Proof of finances — around 12,000 euros a year (roughly 1,000 euros a month) for students under 24
• Medical insurance (ÖGK or equivalent)
• Proof of accommodation in Austria
• A passport valid for at least the entire period of study

The application takes 6–12 weeks to process, so it is best to submit your documents as early as possible.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Very low tuition at public universities — around 1,450 euros a year.
• High-quality education — Austrian universities (the University of Vienna, the Vienna University of Technology, the Vienna University of Economics) feature in the world rankings.
• A high quality of life — Vienna is consistently among the best cities to live in.
• A safe and multicultural environment.
• Admission after Year 11 — no need to spend two years at university back home first.
• The option to apply online.
• Location — Austria sits in the centre of Europe, making travel easy.

Cons:

• The language barrier — at Bachelor's level there are almost no English-taught programmes, and you need German at B2–C1.
• Bureaucracy — obtaining a residence permit takes time and effort.
• A high cost of living in Vienna and Salzburg.
• Strict proof-of-finances rules — you must show 12,000 euros for the year ahead all at once.
• Competition for popular fields (medicine, business, psychology).