International Degree Seeking Students

Pursuant to Section 4(4) of the University of Applied Sciences Studies Act (FHStG), the general admission requirements for a bachelor degree programme at a university of applied sciences are:

• the general university entrance qualification or
• a relevant professional qualification. 

General University Entrance Qualification

The general university entrance qualification has to be proved by one of the following documents (Section 4(5) University of Applied Sciences Studies Act):

1. an Austrian school-leaving certificate (Matura) including a certificate of secondary vocational education (Berufsreifeprüfung);
2. another Austrian certificate of qualification for a certain group of study programmes at a university, teacher training college or university of applied sciences;
3. a foreign certificate equivalent to one of the above-mentioned Austrian certificates based on:
   • an international agreement or
   • a nostrification or
   • a decision by the Academic Director of the Austrian university of applied sciences study programme (this has to be decided for each individual case)
4. a certificate of completion of at least 3 years of study at a recognised domestic or international post-secondary educational institution.

In case foreign certificates are not equivalent to an Austrian school-leaving certificate in terms of content and requirements, the Academic Director shall prescribe supplementary examinations that are necessary to establish an equivalence with the domestic school-leaving examination and which shall be passed prior to admission. 

Relevant Professional Qualifications

Evidence of relevant professional qualifications may be e.g.:

• School-leaving certificate of a lower-level vocational secondary school (BMS)
• certificate of apprenticeship
• certificate of completion for training programmes in health care professions
• certificate on the German entrance qualification for universities of applied sciences

Further information can be found on the website of the respective study programme. 

The general admission requirements for a master degree programme at a university of applied sciences are:

1. completion of a relevant bachelor degree programme at a university of applied sciences, or
2. completion of an equivalent study programme at an accredited Austrian or foreign post-secondary educational institution with least 180 ECTS credits and a duration of   at least six semesters.

• This is an educational institution offering degree programmes lasting for at least six semesters which requires the general university entrance qualification and which is recognised as a postsecondary educational institution according to the legal regulations of the country in which it is domiciled.
• In case that equivalence has been established basically and only certain supplementary qualifications are required for full equivalence, the programme director is entitled to tie the determination of equivalence to examinations to be taken during the Master’s programme

1. Please check whether you need an authentication by searching (use the search function “Ctrl+F”) for the state whose authorities issued your documents in the latest authentication list for universities (Legalization of Foreign Documents in Higher Education) of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research.
2. If you do not need an authentication, please continue reading in the section “Translation”. Otherwise you can find all information regarding your authentication here.

If no agreement on exemption from authentication has been concluded between Austria and the country where the certificate was issued, foreign certificates need the necessary diplomatic authentications.

As a rule, we can only accept documents that fulfil all requirements pertaining to authentication and translation. We might waive the obligation to present certain individual documents (or authentications) if applicants can demonstrate that they are unable to submit the above-mentioned documents (or authentications) within a reasonable time or only with disproportionately great difficulty, and the other submitted documents are sufficient to make a decision. For example, persons entitled to asylum do not need to have their documents authorised in the state they fled from.

CAUTION: You are advised to obtain any diplomatic authentications in person in the country where the official document was issued. If you are in Austria and you want to obtain a diplomatic authentication from another country, you might need a representative in the country where the official document was issued to obtain the diplomatic authentication for you on location.

There are three types of authentication:

• exemption from any authentication
• apostille
• full diplomatic authentication

The authorisation of official documents from some countries is suspended (see Suspension of Authorisation Requirements).

Exemption from Authentication

Official documents from countries which have concluded a bilateral agreement on abolishing the requirement of authorisation are exempt from any authentication.

Apostille

Official documents from the contracting states of the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (“Hague Apostille Convention“), Federal Law Gazette no 27/1968, do not require full diplomatic authentication if they have an apostille, e. g. for documents from these countries the authorisation in the form of the Apostille is sufficient.

Full Diplomatic Authentication

Full diplomatic authentication is required for any country that Austria has not concluded a bilateral agreement on abolishing the requirement of authorisation with, and that is no contracting state of the Hague Apostille Convention:

1. first step: authorisation through the responsible ministry (e.g. Ministry of Education) of the country of origin
2. second step: additional authentication through the Foreign Ministry of the country of origin
3. third step: Austrian diplomatic representation authority in the country of origin

Suspension of Authentication Requirements

The authentication of documents issued by certain states may be suspended by the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs when it is not possible to guarantee the reliable verification of the genuineness, substantial accuracy or correctness of the content of these documents. For the time of the suspension, documents from these states are subject to free assessment of evidence. This is currently the case for the following states:

• Federal Act on Authentications by Consular Authorities – KBeglG (in German)
• Regulation on Authentications by Consular Authorities – KBeglV (in German)

The applicants have to upload authorised translations of foreign-language certificates.

In principle, the original certificate should already be complete with all necessary authentication seals so that these can be translated together with the certificate. The translation has to be firmly attached to the original certificate or a certified copy thereof.

If the translation has been produced by a court-certified translator officially registered in Austria, it requires no additional authentication.

Translations of foreign certificates carried out abroad also have to come from court-certified translators officially registered in the respective country. When it comes to authentication regulations, they are to be treated the same as foreign original certificates, which means they are subject to the authentication modalities of the country where the translation was produced. However, as the country where the translation was produced does not necessarily have to be the country where the original certificate was issued, it is possible that different authentication regulations may apply to the original certificate and the translation.