Number of Private University Students on the Rise

The number of students at private universities and colleges continues to grow rapidly in Austria. In the winter semester 2023/24, according to data published by Statistics Austria on Thursday, over 16,600 people were already enrolled there. This is 600 more than in the previous academic year, partly due to a new establishment. Overall, private universities remain a niche phenomenon with only five percent of all students.

First officially accredited private university in 2001

The private university founding boom of the early 2000s has subsided, but new locations have continued to be added. Recently, a new type of higher education institution, the private colleges, has emerged. The Haydn Conservatory in Eisenstadt and the Vorarlberg State Conservatory were recently accredited as private colleges. This phenomenon is not new; even with private universities, some existing institutions were already accredited as universities earlier.

The type of higher education institution known as a private university was created in 2000, with the first officially accredited private university being the Catholic-Theological University of Linz in 2001. By 2005, ten more institutions had been added, although some have since closed over the years. Thematic focuses of private universities include social and economic sciences, law, medicine, theology, philosophy, as well as art and music (mainly through the conversion of many state conservatories into private colleges or universities).

Sigmund Freud University leads

The largest domestic private university is Sigmund Freud University, where, in addition to psychology and psychotherapy sciences, medicine and law can now also be studied. According to the Ministry of Science's list, there are currently 17 private universities and two private colleges in the current academic year.

Parallel to the increase in institutions, the number of students has also risen rapidly. Compared to 2015, this number has almost doubled according to the unidata database of the Ministry of Science; in 2004, there were only 1,200 private university students. Women have long constituted the majority of private university students, and with over 50 percent of enrollments from countries other than Austria, private universities are also significantly more international than other types of higher education institutions.

Up to 14,200 euros in tuition fees

In Austria, private universities are generally not truly "private." The majority of institutions are backed by federal states, cities, chambers, the church, or even public universities. Only the federal government is generally prohibited from funding private universities. Private universities are the only type of higher education institution allowed to freely decide on the amount of tuition fees. The range extends from 450 euros per semester at the Anton Bruckner Private University to almost 14,200 euros per semester, for example, for dentistry at the DPU Danube Private University Krems.

(APA/Red)

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