Overview
The Republic of Austria is a landlocked country located in Southern Europe, it is surrounded by Eastern Alps. The capital city of Austria is Vienna and it is the biggest state of Austria. Austria is scattered with ancient architecture, palaces, castles, and cathedrals built during the 17th century. The Austrian Alps are famous for winter vacations. Vacations in Austria are a bit expensive. Austria is a great place for students to pursue their education. The education expenses offered by Austria are affordable as compared to other study destinations like the US, UK, or Australia. Austria has a high quality of life and a low crime rate. Austria played an important role in shaping an integral part of Europe. Austria is known as the motherland of modern Alpine skiing.
Why study in Austria?
The universities of Austria have great eminence over the whole world. Austria has many highly international ranked Universities that ensure good quality education to all the students. The universities of Austria offer free tuition fees in all of the public universities for students belonging to the European Union. For international students, the fee charged by the universities of Austria is around 1,500 EUR per year. The University of Vienna was innovated in 1365 and it’s the oldest German-speaking University in Austria. The university has been rewarded with 15 Nobel prizes and provides nearly 200 different programs to the students. Many of them are being taught in English.
Austria study visa requirements and Eligibility criteria
Requirements for applying for a study visa in Austria
The documents required for applying study visa are as follows:
- Proof of citizenship
- Identity card
- Passport
- A-level education certificate or high school diploma
- University application form for admission
- Attaching the bank receipt of the payment of tuition fee per semester
- Travel insurance with a minimum of 30,000 EUR covers all medical emergencies.
- No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the university. No Objection Certificate is a certificate that claims that the student has all intentions to return to their home country after completing their studies.
- Proof of financial capability that the student can manage all of his expenses during his study period in the country.
The student visa permit costs around 100 EUR and its validity period are of one year and it can be renewed.
The students belonging to the EU are allowed to come and study without a visa in Austria. A valid travel document is required.
The students belonging to any other place than the EU and looking forward to staying there for more than 6 months must apply for a Residence Permit.
There are two types of visas offered by Austria:
- One type of visa is- Visa C; it allows the visa holder to stay up to 90 days in Austria.
- The other type of visa is- Visa D; it allows the visa holder to stay for 91 days to 6 months in Austria.
The time of 6 weeks is taken by the embassy for the appointment of an interview.
The time duration of visa processing is around 1 to 4 weeks.
Cost of studying in Austria
Austria turns out to be one of the most affordable options for both European and non- European nationals.
All the universities of Austria charge application fees that are required to be paid for the application to be reviewed and processed. It is necessary for the students to pay the fees otherwise, the application will be withdrawn.
European citizens have great benefits. They do not have to pay anything for studying in the public universities of Austria.
The students belonging to any other nation that Europe is expected to pay the tuition fees somewhere between 3,000-23,000 EUR/year and some specialized courses costs around 35,000 EUR/year or more.
Courses to study in Austria
The universities of Austria offer a wide variety of courses to the students. Austria offers Bachelor’s courses in engineering, arts, education, laws, science, fine arts, etc, and Master’s in business administration, engineering, laws, social work, public health, science, and arts.
How much money is required to study in Austria?
In Austria, international students have average monthly expenses of around 950 EUR. The expenses of international students vary based on the location of the university selected by the student, for instance, accommodation and other living costs are higher in Vienna and other big cities as compared to the other cities.
Many supermarkets in Austria offer great discounts that allow the students to get food at reasonable prices. Students can get a good meal at self-service cafeterias of the universities known as Mensa.
Austria offers a huge number of internships to international students. The Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research (OeAD) is a great place for students to get opportunities for internships.
How to get PR in Austria after studying?
The students belonging to the third world countries having their residence permit are allowed to stay in Austria for the next 12 months after completing their degree. The purpose of the stay should be the search for employment or setting up a business. The students have to apply for confirmation by the competent residence authority (MA35) before the expiration of the student visa.
If the student has got a job in the next twelve months, they can apply for the RWR (Red-white-Red) card. The qualification of the student should match the occupation of the job. The RWR card allows the student to settle down temporarily in Austria for 24 months. The students get the advantage that they do not need to go through a labour request test and a points system after applying for the RWR card.
At the time of the expiration of the RWR card, the student is eligible to apply for Red White Red Card plus if the student has completed at least 21 months of employment in the preceding months.
The Red White Red Card plus entitles the person as a non-EU/EEA national to fixed-term settlement and provides unlimited access to the labour market. The validity of the RWR card plus stands for one year.
A person is eligible for applying for EU Blue Card if he gets a binding job offer for at least a year in Austria and the salary criteria should be the gross annual income of at least one and a half times the average gross annual income of full-time employees. According to the 2020 criteria, the annual income should be at least 63,672 EUR annually. EU Blue Card entitles the person to fixed-term settlement and employment for the next 24-months.
Work and study in Austria
All the international students have to apply for a work permit to work in Austria. In most cases, the work permit is applied by the prospective employer on the behalf of the student. Only the students perusing Masters from Austria are eligible to work but for 20 hours per week. The students can complete their internships and placements as a part of their master’s degree without a work permit.
Eligibility for Indian students to study in Austria
- A language proficiency test will be required for Austria.
- The criteria for Indian students to study in Denmark are that they require a minimum IELTS 6-6.5.
- It is prescribed to learn German before applying for studies in Austria as this will be extremely helpful for them. Most people in Austria speak German and most of the courses are taught in the German language only.
- If the student knows German, he has to provide German language proficiency certification like Deutsche fur Zuwanderer A2/B1.
- The students seeking to take admission in Austria University can apply without IELTS as well only if they have higher impressive scores in the last academic course or if the student is well-versed in German and clears the tests like TestDaf, DSH, etc.
- It is necessary for the students to prove that they can support themselves financially during their studies in Austria.
- Students applying for Austria Universities have to complete the forms required for the application of residence permit. Biometrics is also required to be provided at the time of visa application.
- The Indian scholars are needed to complete a part of the form for the Residence Permit. They also have to provide biometrics during the visa application process.
How much gap is accepted for study in Austria
All the students must complete at least twelve years of study (Higher Secondary Certificate).
Students can apply for undergraduate, post-graduate as well as PhD programs in the universities of Austria.
Best place to study in Austria for Indian students
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna focuses on teaching as well as research. It is one of the most popular universities in Austria. Majorly the university offers courses in Theology, Mathematics, Microbiology, Business, Law, etc.
Vienna University of Technology
It is a polytechnic institute known as TU Wien. The university offers courses in Mathematics, Physics, Technical Chemistry, Informatics, Civil Engineering, Architecture, Mechanical Engineering, etc.
University of Innsbruck
It is termed the third-largest university in Austria. The university offers courses in humanities, economics, social science, theology, law, architecture, teachers’ training, and engineering. The Innsbruck city is beautiful, clean, and affordable to live in.
University of Graz
It is the second-largest university in Austria. The university offers great courses in diploma, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs. It is a popular university among students. The university has large faculties of Arts & Humanities and Natural Science that offer courses in Arts and Humanities, Environmental, Regional, and Educational Sciences, Natural Sciences, Catholic Theology, Medicine, etc.
Most of the degree programs in Austria are in the German language. A large number of international students enroll in the universities of Austria, as a result, the universities started offering more programs in English particularly at the post-graduate level.
Which career has the most job opportunities in Austria?
Austria offers a large variety of job opportunities in the following professions- accountant, architect, marketing manager, product manager, software engineer, UX designer, nurse, web developer, teacher, etc.
Austria is one of the major destinations of Europe. Therefore, Austria provides a large number of job opportunities in the field of tourism industry such as resorts, hotels, restaurants, etc.
Austria attracts a large number of international students because of its great and affordable lifestyle. Austria is considered as one of the top ten peaceful countries of the world ranked by the Global Peace Index. World Happiness Report has ranked Austria as one of the happiest countries in the world. Austria is one of the least corrupted countries, Austria offers an economical fee per semester that costs around 70,000 INR and offers numerous post-study work opportunities in Austria.