Despite growth

Fewer Austrians expected at our universities soon

The number of students at Austria's universities has continued to rise in recent years. While there were still 339,000 in 2018/19, there were already 348,000 in 2022/23 (excluding mobility students). Although the current higher education forecast for 2023 from Statistics Austria still assumes a slight increase, this is not due to domestic students ...

The proportion of enrolled students with Austrian citizenship is likely to decline. Even between 2018/19 and 2022/23, there was a drop in Austrian students (from 252,000 to 247,000). On balance, there was only growth because this was more than compensated for by students from Germany, the EU and third countries.

Growth from other countries
These groups are also expected to increase in the future. As a result, the proportion of domestic students is expected to fall from 71.1 percent to 67.4 percent in the 2041/42 academic year. In the same period, Statistics Austria also expects the proportion of students in the 18 to 23-year-old resident population to fall from 20.8 percent to 18.9 percent.

Different trends are expected for first-year students depending on the type of university: While universities, where there are by far the most students, are forecast to see a drop of 5 percent to 69,000 students in the first semester in 2041, Statistics Austria is predicting significant increases in some cases at other universities.

Growth expected at universities of applied sciences
An increase of almost 9 percent to around 24,000 new admissions is expected at universities of applied sciences (UAS), an increase of 12 percent to 6,300 at teacher training colleges (PH) and an increase of 9 percent to 5,000 at private universities and colleges.