Global Student Satisfaction Award 2025

The St. Pölten UAS has been awarded the Global Student Satisfaction Awards 2025 in the category “Quality of Student Life”. The St. Pölten UAS won the finals ahead of higher education institutions in the US and Thailand. This is a clear sign highlighting what students from all over the world appreciate about St. Pölten: an excellent academic education, personal guidance, and a lively supportive environment that ideally combines studying and personal development.

The Global Student Satisfaction Award is a renowned international prize awarded by the platform Studyportals in partnership with the British Council (IELTS) every other year.

UAS Executive Director Johann Haag accepted the award at the annual EAIE conference – one of the most important international meeting points for higher education and academic exchange.

“We are very happy about this special award. This success highlights the high quality that we offer our students on our Campus and positions us once more as an open and internationally recognised university: thanks to our study programmes, our research projects, our many partners in society and in the business world, and our European University. This award does not only increase our international visibility, it also strengthens the position of the St. Pölten UAS as an important player in the higher education landscape – regionally, nationally, and all over Europe”, explain Johann Haag and Hannes Raffaseder, Executive Directors of the St. Pölten UAS.

“Representing its owners, I am happy that the St. Pölten UAS has received this important and internationally recognised award. I want to congratulate the entire university team on this achievement. This is an outstanding success and convincing evidence of the high-quality study programmes offered by the UAS, the benefits of the state-of-the art Campus St. Pölten, and the city’s attractiveness as a location for studying. These are the rewards reaped by the St. Pölten UAS for engaging in international cooperation with over 170 higher education institutions and actively shaping the European Higher Education Area as the lead of the European University Alliance E³UDRES²,” emphasises Mayor Matthias Stadler.

“This award is an impressive success – I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations! Our position at the forefront of this international competition and the results showcasing the highest student satisfaction speak for the excellent quality of the St. Pölten UAS. The university convinces thanks to its outstanding lecturers, committed students, and its smoothly functioning environment both academically and socially. Places of professional excellence bring about a strong sense of community – this is something that can be clearly felt here. This recognition is not only an important milestone for the St. Pölten UAS, but it also brings substantial added value to the province of Lower Austria,” highlights Deputy Provincial Governor Stephan Pernkopf.

Milestone in Our Successful Development

This award is yet another milestone in the St. Pölten UAS’ successful development in recent years: The range of study programmes has been continuously extended, the research revenues have substantially increased, and as the lead of the European University Alliance E³UDRES², the St. Pölten UAS actively shapes the European Higher Education Area. In addition, the university has seen the highest number of students and staff members in its history.

About the Global Student Satisfaction Award

The Global Student Satisfaction Award is a renowned international prize awarded every other year by the platform Studyportals in partnership with the British Council (IELTS). Studyportals is an international online platform that helps students to find and compare study programmes worldwide and select a suitable university for themselves. The prize was awarded in seven categories, based exclusively on the feedback of over 100,000 students on more than 1,200 universities all over the world. This is the only ranking worldwide which is entirely based on validated student assessments.

Further information on the awards can be found on the website.