Psychotherapy Studies: 75 Percent Quota Planned for Austrians

The new Master's program in Psychotherapy at universities, which is expected to bring more quality and lower costs in training from 2026/27, is close to being approved. In an initiative proposal by ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS, which was approved on Wednesday evening in the Science Committee, an Austrian quota of 75 percent is planned for the annual 500 beginner places, similar to medicine. Otherwise, the supply of psychotherapists would be at risk.

Austrian Quota Similar to Medicine in New Psychotherapy Program

This is justified, among other things, by the high proportion of German students in the Bachelor's program in Psychology, an important feeder program for the future Master's in Psychotherapy. According to the proposal, the proportion of Germans varies by location up to 80 percent, and overall, in 2023/24, more than half of the beginners in the Bachelor's program in Psychology came from abroad.

A large part of them, however, do not stay in Austria after their studies, as experiences in medicine show. In the graduating class of 2022, less than half of the Germans remained. Without including the Master's in Psychotherapy in the quota regulation for German numerus clausus studies approved by the EU Commission, the long-term supply of psychotherapists in Austria - also considering the wave of retirements - can "only be insufficiently" secured, the proposal emphasizes.

Ongoing Evaluation with EU Commission

According to the proposal, reserving 75 percent of study places for beginners with an Austrian school-leaving certificate in a nationwide uniform entrance test is expected to produce 356 Master's graduates in Psychotherapy per year, who are highly likely to stay in the country. To ensure the proportionality of the quota, the specific need for psychotherapists is to be "continuously evaluated" in consultation with the EU Commission, according to the proposal.

Also modeled after the medical studies, places in the psychotherapy master's program should also be dedicated to tasks in the public interest. In medicine, since 2024, there have been relaxations in the admission test for candidates who commit to working in certain areas - such as in hospitals, health insurance practices, or the military - for a certain period after graduation. The unified admission test for the psychology master's is currently being developed by the universities of Salzburg and Vienna, according to the Ministry of Science.

Universities see open questions regarding financing

According to the initiative proposal, the universities are supposed to receive the money for the new, personnel-intensive study program due to small groups through supplements to their respective performance agreements. However, the University Conference (uniko) sees open questions regarding financing both for the overall offering and the distribution of study places among the ten participating universities in its statement.

The Ministry of Science stated in response to an APA inquiry that for the 500 places planned from autumn 2026, a start-up financing of 15 million has been budgeted in the performance agreements (LV) for the years 2025 to 2027, which has been withheld for the time being. With the signing of the LV supplements, the money will then be distributed to the ten universities.

To save resources, these universities should also be able to form alliances for the new training. And: The Danube University Krems, actually a university for further education with fee-based courses, should be allowed to offer its first regular master's program with the psychotherapy master's. According to parliamentary correspondence, this was also the reason why the Greens, who had initiated the psychotherapy master's in the previous black-green government, did not agree to the amendment of the University Act in the committee.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.