Private universities & Pedagogical universities

3. Private universities

Private universities in Austria make up the smallest and youngest part of the higher education system. In 1999, a federal law was passed that allows everyone to found their own university.

In order to ensure the quality and accreditation of study programs, every educational institution that wishes to call itself a private university and therefore award its graduates with academic bachelor's and master's degrees must pass an exam at the Austrian Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation (AQ). This exam is demanding, as the statistics show: only 15 percent of all project applicants are approved.

The accreditation approval is reviewed at regular intervals to ensure a high standard of quality.

Private universities are fundamentally different from public universities: they are not funded by the state, they can set the conditions for admission and the amount of tuition fees themselves. And this radically affects the price.

Cost of education

If you are considering private universities for admission, then you should be prepared for the fact that the price of education in them is an order of magnitude higher than in state ones: from 3.5 to 10 thousand euros per semester.

4. Pedagogical universities

Pedagogical universities originated from pedagogical academies (PädAks). As the name suggests, they train future educators (primary and secondary school teachers, as well as vocational school teachers). High school teachers are trained by classical state universities. The salary of a teacher in Austria is comparable to the salary of an engineer, doctor or programmer and amounts to about 2500-3500 euros (before taxes).

Pedagogical universities are organized in the same way as universities and private farms: three years of study end with a bachelor's degree. Then you can study for a master's degree. To enter a pedagogical university, you need deep knowledge of the German language in oral and written form (level not lower than C1-C2), the presence of a complete secondary education at the level of Austrian matura (this is the name of the certificate of maturity in Austria, which is issued after 12-13 years of study).

Additionally, for admission, you need to pass an entrance test and pass a professional aptitude test. This is a very important point, because the teaching profession is not for everyone.

Training price

As a rule, there are no discounts and special programs for students of pedagogical universities, so the cost of training goes up to the top level - 750 euros per semester.

You can find the most popular universities among applicants from the CIS countries on this page.