Austria

• Governmental membership
  Austria has been a Governmental Member of EQAR since February 2008.

  Map: EHEA countries by governmental membership

• General information on higher education

  Austrian higher education system include public universities offering bachelor, master, doctoral or various forms of diploma degrees, universities of applied sciences providing specifically vocational education and training at bachelor and master level and university colleges of teacher education offering bachelor and masters degree programmes for teaching credentials for the primary and secondary education sector.

• National external quality assurance requirements

  • Institutional and initial programme accreditation
    Private higher education institutions

  • Own methodology
    University colleges of teacher education

  • Institutional audit
    Public universities; universities of applied sciences after an uninterrupted accreditation period of 12 years

  • Institutional and initial programme accreditation
    Universities of applied sciences

• EHEA key commitment

  Fully aligned with the ESG

  A fully functioning quality assurance system is in operation nationwide, in which all higher education institutions are subject to regular external quality assurance by an agency that has successfully demonstrated compliance with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the EHEA (ESG) through registration on EQAR

  Map: implementation of the EHEA key commitment

• Cross-border quality assurance

  Recognising EQAR-registered agencies as part of the national external QA requirements

  • Public universities: yes.
  • Universities of applied science: yes, after having been re-accredited by the national Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation Austria (AQ Austria)
    
  • Private higher education institutions & university colleges of teacher education: no.  

  See point §19 of the Act on Quality Assurance in Higher Education – HS-QSG

  • Eligibility requirements for foreign agencies: registration on EQAR; QA agencies have to also submit an expression of interest to the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research.

  • Conditions for the agencies’ work (e.g. criteria to be used): compliance with the criteria by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research.​

  Map: recognition of cross-border quality assurance

• European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes

  European Approach available to all higher education institutions

  • Public universities: yes (due to “self-accrediting” status of their programmes they are able to employ the European Approach)
  • Universities of applied sciences, private higher education institutions, yes. If such a degree programme is offered as a joint study programme with one or several recognised foreign post-secondary educational institutions, AQ Austria may employ the European Approach or recognise the procedure (see the 2021 amendment to the Act on Quality Assurance in Higher Education – HS-QSG, § 23 4b and § 24 5b).
    

  Map: availability of the European Approach for QA of Joint Programmes

• Permalink
  https://data.deqar.eu/country/10/
• Further information

  • ENIC NARIC

  • Ministry responsible for higher education

  • The Austrian external QA framework - Presentation by the responsible Ministry (2013)

  • National Qualifications Framework Austria

  • Austria - European Higher Education Area

  • Act on Quality Assurance in Higher Education – HS-QSG

Registered agencies operating in Austria