Enhancing labour market relevance and outcomes of higher education: Country note Austria

Abstract

Brief overview of higher education in AustriaIn Austria, higher education encompasses International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) levels 6-8 and is delivered at four types of HEIs, which form distinct higher education sectors: public universities, private universities, universities of applied sciences (UAS), and university colleges of teacher education. 1 Public and private universities offer research-focused curricula and they are the only institutions that can confer doctoral degrees. UAS conduct applied research, tend to have stronger links with the regional economy compared to universities, and their study programmes (ISCED levels 6-7) are more professionally oriented, with a highly defined course structure. University colleges of teacher education specialise in educating primary school teachers and, in collaboration with public universities, secondary school and vocational education teachers.The 22 public universities form the largest part of the higher education sector, enrolling 76% of the approximately 380 000 higher education students. The UAS sector, with 21 institutions, currently educates 16% of higher education students. While most UAS are private institutions, they are largely financed by government. Comparatively recent additions to the nation's higher education system, UAS institutions were first authorised by a 1993 act of Parliament, and graduated their first cohort of students in 1997. The other two higher education sectors in Austria are comparatively small: private universities enrol 4% of higher education students at 16 institutions, while university colleges of teacher education enrol 4% of higher education students at nine public and five private institutions.Austria's student body comprises a sizeable share of foreign students. Approximately 22% of students at ISCED levels 6-7 moved to Austria from abroad for their higher education studies. Approximately 40% of these foreign students hold German nationality (Unger et al., 2020[1]). The number of foreign students in doctoral degree programmes is increasing. When considering the labour market outcomes of higher education, it is thus important to consider the share of graduates leaving Austria upon graduation, many of whom are foreign students. Austria's student population has some unique features compared to those of other European countries. A substantial share of educational resident students 2 (27%) start their studies at least two years after their university entrance qualification (Matura) or enter from a non-traditional pathway. The average age of an educational resident commencing studies is 27 years; most have prior work experience and many combine study and work.A government priority is to increase the enrolment share of students enrolled in UAS institutions, as a means by which to alleviate pressure on public universities resulting from increasing numbers of students, and to sharpen the respective profiles of the two sectors. The target is a ratio of 30:70 among students at UAS and public universities (BMWFW, 2017[2...

Enhancing labour market relevance and outcomes of higher education: Country note Portugal

“…A learning model could be the recently launched website of the Universities of the Netherlands (UNL), which went online in November 2021 with information on all online and offline courses ranging from postgraduate master's degrees for professionals to one-week short courses (OECD, 2022 [36]). The website supports professionals to easily identify courses that are relevant to their work.…”

“…The creation of the National Forum represented the beginning of a new era for Irish higher education. Ireland's National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 outlined the importance of ensuring the centrality of teaching and learning in Irish higher education and the National Forum became the national body responsible for leading and advising on the enhancement of teaching and learning across the higher education sector (OECD, 2022 [36]).…”