Austria is one of the last places in Western Europe where a university place is not, by default, something you compete for. Enrol in history, mathematics or physics at a public university, meet the formal entry conditions, and you are a student — no ranked admission, no interview, no essay. Then look at the subjects most international applicants actually want, and the picture inverts: business, psychology, computer science, pharmacy, law and communication studies all run capped intakes with a written entrance test, and medicine turns away roughly six candidates for every place it fills. The same country runs two systems at once, and which one you meet depends entirely on the field and the institution type you pick. For an applicant who needs a visa, the field and the sector together decide the deadline, the entrance test and the fee.
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Austrian universities: the key facts by institution type
Four sectors make up Austrian higher education, and they answer to different laws, price differently and admit differently. Figures below are per semester and current as of September 2026 for entry in the 2027/28 academic year.
821 USD, the same statutory rate as the universities[4]
Bachelor and master of education
Aptitude procedure for all teacher training
German
Most degrees still have no entrance exam
At the University of Vienna — the country's largest institution — roughly twenty bachelor and diploma programmes carry an admission or aptitude procedure[5]. Everything outside that list admits on formal conditions alone. For an applicant whose school results are solid but unspectacular, this is a genuinely different proposition from the ranked, competitive admissions of the English-speaking world.
The fee ceiling is fixed by statute, not by the university
Public universities and teacher-education colleges cannot set their own tuition: the Universities Act fixes 821 USD a semester for third-country nationals and 411 USD for EU students who exceed the standard study period plus two tolerance semesters[4]. A subject that costs a fortune elsewhere — medicine, dentistry, architecture — costs the same here as history.
Quality signals you can check rather than take on trust
The University of Vienna entered the top 100 of the THE World University Rankings for the first time in the 2026 edition, at 95th, and holds 101-150 in ShanghaiRanking's ARWU 2026[6]. WU Vienna holds EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA accreditation simultaneously, which fewer than one percent of business schools worldwide do[7]. These are independent, dated assessments rather than marketing claims.
A private sector small enough to verify one institution at a time
Austria has 17 private universities and 2 private university colleges, all accredited by a single agency, AQ Austria, under a mandatory statutory procedure[8]. Compared with countries where hundreds of private providers of unclear standing compete for international fees, checking whether an Austrian private institution is legitimate takes minutes.
The capped fields are exactly the ones international applicants want
The University of Vienna's admission procedures cover business administration, international business, economics, law, computer science, business informatics, data science, psychology, pharmacy, nutrition sciences, sociology, political science, journalism and communication studies, and teacher training, among others[5]. Open access is real, but it mostly applies to the subjects that were never oversubscribed.
Medicine is a lottery with a written test attached
Austria offers 1950 places in human and dental medicine, and 13248 candidates sat the 2026 admission procedure[9]. At least 75 percent of human-medicine places are reserved for holders of an Austrian school-leaving certificate and at least 95 percent for EU citizens, leaving a maximum of 5 percent for everyone else[10].
A Fachhochschule can charge a non-EU student eight times the statutory rate
The statutory cap for universities of applied sciences is 411 USD a semester[4], but that cap governs the publicly funded places. FH Technikum Wien charges third-country students 3,390 USD a semester[2]. Read the fee page of the specific Fachhochschule, never a national average.
What you could have studied at home decides what you may study here
Austrian admission with a foreign school certificate rests on the general university entrance qualification: broadly, the certificate must admit you to the same subject at a university in the country that issued it. A certificate that qualifies you for engineering at home does not automatically open a psychology place in Vienna, and the supplementary examinations required in each case are determined individually while your documents are processed[11].
The permit costs more than the degree
A student residence permit requires documented funds of 817 USD a month if you are under 24 and 1,478 USD a month from 24 onwards, held twelve months in advance in an account in your own name, plus a non-refundable 246 USD application fee[12]. The annual funds requirement alone is six to eleven times the annual tuition.
Passing the entrance test is only the first gate
The university decides admission; the provincial residence authority decides the student permit on funds evidence held twelve months in advance; and after graduation the Red-White-Red Card depends on a job offer at the customary graduate salary. A pass at one stage does not bind the next.
When Austria is the right shortlist, and when it is not
Austria works best for applicants who want a research-oriented degree in a non-capped field at a fee level that no English-speaking country matches, and who are prepared to learn German to C1. It works well at master's level across the board, because English-taught master's programmes are widespread and the capped-field rules bite hardest at bachelor's entry.
It works poorly for two profiles. If your target subject is medicine, psychology or business at bachelor's level and you hold a non-EU certificate, the arithmetic is brutal and a second country belongs in the plan from the start. And if you need to study in English from day one at undergraduate level, the realistic options are the private sector at 15,820-24,860 USD a year or a Fachhochschule with an English-taught programme — at which point Germany, the Netherlands or Ireland deserve a direct comparison.
The Austrian landscape, sector by sector
Public universities
Austria has had 23 public universities since the winter semester of 2023/24: 22 governed by the Universities Act and the Interdisciplinary Transformation University in Linz, which operates under its own statute[13]. Austria had 407485 students in higher education in the winter semester of 2025/26, 1.9% more than a year earlier[14], and the public universities teach most of them.
The sector divides into comprehensive universities — Vienna, Graz, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Linz, Klagenfurt — and specialised ones: two technical universities, three medical universities, a university of economics and business, a university of veterinary medicine, a university of natural resources and life sciences, a mining university, and several art and music universities. Each is autonomous under constitutional law and sets its own examination rules and staffing, which is why admission detail differs between institutions even where the underlying statute does not.
The research-and-teaching link is treated as inseparable here, and that shapes the student experience more than any brochure claim: lecture courses are large, attendance is often optional, you assemble your own timetable and register for your own examinations, and nobody chases you. Students who need structure find this harder than students who want autonomy.
Universities of applied sciences
The 21 Fachhochschulen were created from 1994 onwards as a professionally oriented alternative, and they behave differently in every respect that matters to an applicant. Places are funded per seat rather than per enrolment, so every programme runs a selection procedure — written tests, interviews, sometimes portfolios — and there is no open access anywhere in the sector. Cohorts are small, attendance is compulsory, timetables are fixed, and a work placement is normally built into the curriculum.
Fachhochschulen award bachelor's and master's degrees but not doctorates, though some run doctoral programmes jointly with a university partner. Where the priority is employment in a named industry rather than an academic career, this sector often delivers better outcomes than a large public university — and it is much more likely to have an English-taught programme in engineering, IT or international business.
Private universities and private university colleges
Since a 2021 reform Austria distinguishes Privatuniversitäten, which may award doctorates, from Privathochschulen, which may not; there are 17 of the former and 2 of the latter. They receive no federal funding, charge all students regardless of nationality, and cluster in medicine and health sciences, psychotherapy, music and the performing arts, design, and international business. The Austrian Private Universities Conference lists its members publicly, which is the quickest way to check whether an institution that has approached you is part of the accredited sector[15].
Fees are the defining difference. MODUL University Vienna charges 10,170 USD a semester for most bachelor's programmes and between 7,910 USD and 12,430 USD a semester for its master's degrees and MBA, with rates effective from 1 January 2026[3]. Over a three-year bachelor's degree that is roughly 61,019 USD against roughly 4,927 USD at a public university. The private sector buys English-medium teaching, small groups and an international cohort; it does not buy a stronger research reputation, because the public universities hold that.
Specialised and postgraduate institutions
Three institutions sit outside the standard categories and are worth knowing about. The University for Continuing Education Krems focuses on postgraduate qualifications for people already in work. The Institute of Science and Technology Austria in Klosterneuburg is a graduate research institute running PhD and postdoctoral programmes in the natural and mathematical sciences, with English as its working language. The Diplomatic Academy of Vienna runs postgraduate programmes in international relations. None of them admits school leavers, and all three are more relevant to master's and doctoral applicants than to undergraduates.
This is the single most important structural fact about Austrian admission, and most international guides skate over it.
Austrian law lets universities impose an admission procedure with a fixed number of places in defined study fields. Where such a procedure exists, applying is a two-stage affair: you register in the application window, then sit a written test months before the semester begins. At the University of Vienna the window for 2026/27 ran from 2 March to 4 May 2026, with written tests from 6 July, held in person in Vienna with no alternative sitting[5]. Miss the registration window and the field is closed to you for a year, however strong your certificate.
The covered fields at Vienna span economics and law, the sciences and computing, health and psychology, the social sciences, education, and several language programmes. Other universities regulate a similar but not identical set, so a subject that is capped in Vienna may be open in Graz or Innsbruck — which is a genuine strategic lever, provided you check each university's own list rather than assuming a national rule.
Medicine: the hardest door in the country
Human and dental medicine sit outside the ordinary system entirely, with a common national entrance test. The 1950 places are distributed across MedUni Wien with 704 human-medicine and 80 dentistry places, MedUni Innsbruck with 390 and 40, MedUni Graz with 382 and 24, and JKU Linz with 330 human-medicine places[10]. In 2026, 13248 people took part in the admission procedure and the test was held on 8 July[9].
The quota rule is what decides whether this is worth attempting. Applying the reservations above to 1806 human-medicine places leaves fewer than a hundred nationally for third-country candidates, and they go to those who rank at the very top of the test rather than merely above a threshold. Dentistry carries no such nationality quota, which makes it a materially different proposition for the same applicant.
Reading the rankings honestly
Austria has one university in the global top 100 and a cluster in the 150-400 band, and that shape should inform how you use rankings here rather than whether you use them.
The University of Vienna reached 95th in the THE World University Rankings 2026, its first appearance in the top 100, and holds the 101-150 group in ARWU 2026 as the only Austrian institution in the ARWU top 200[6]. TU Wien placed 191st in the QS World University Rankings 2027, published in June 2026, rising six places and ranking second among Austrian universities[16].
Subject positions tell you more than the overall table. Vienna's own reporting places it in the global top 50 for fourteen subjects across the three major ranking providers, with communication and media studies in the top 15 and strong placements in political science, mathematics, ecology, theology, anthropology, geography, archaeology, philosophy and history[6]. For business, the reference point is not a ranking position but the triple accreditation held by WU Vienna: EQUIS since 2007, AACSB since 2015 and AMBA, a combination held by fewer than one percent of business schools worldwide and by no other Austrian institution[7].
The Fachhochschulen appear in none of these tables, and their absence carries no information about teaching quality: global rankings weight research output and reputation surveys, and applied-science universities are funded to teach rather than to publish. Judging an FH by its ranking position is like judging a hospital by its library.
University of Vienna — founded 1365 and the largest institution in the country, with the broadest subject catalogue. The right choice for humanities, social sciences, law, theology and the communication disciplines, and the only Austrian university with a genuine global top-100 position. Expect very large cohorts and minimal hand-holding.
TU Wien — the strongest Austrian address for engineering, computing and architecture, and the country's second-placed institution in QS. Heavy industry links put students into company projects early; the workload in the first two years is the standard complaint.
WU Vienna — the business and economics specialist, triple-accredited, with a large English-taught master's portfolio and a purpose-built campus. Its bachelor's programmes sit inside the access-regulated group, so plan for the entrance procedure.
TU Graz — the second technical university, strong in materials, mechanical engineering, information processing and mobility, and closely tied to the automotive and semiconductor employers clustered around Graz.
University of Graz — founded 1585, comprehensive, with particular depth in law, environmental systems sciences and the humanities. Medicine left to form the separate Medical University of Graz, independent since 2004.
University of Innsbruck — the country's main alternative to Vienna for physics, with an internationally prominent quantum optics and quantum information group, plus mountain-relevant earth sciences and a strong sports science faculty.
JKU Linz — a younger, business-and-technology-focused university with a single compact campus, a law faculty, and Austria's fourth medical faculty. Its size makes it noticeably easier to navigate than Vienna.
Medical University of Vienna — the largest medical faculty in the country and the site of the general hospital that anchors Austrian clinical research. Entry runs through the national test and the quota rules above.
The mid-tier and applied institutions worth a second look
Shortlists assembled purely from rankings miss most of what Austria does well. The universities of Salzburg and Klagenfurt are comprehensive institutions with far smaller cohorts than Vienna and correspondingly better access to teaching staff. The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna is one of the reference institutions in German-speaking Europe for forestry, agricultural and environmental biotechnology. Among the Fachhochschulen, the larger providers in Upper Austria, Vienna, Salzburg, Vorarlberg and Carinthia run English-taught engineering, IT and business programmes with mandatory placements and dense regional employer networks — which for a career-focused applicant is worth more than a hundred places on a global table.
Building a shortlist that survives contact with the rules
The criteria that actually change the outcome
Is your field access-regulated at this university? Check each institution's own admission-procedure list before anything else; it determines your deadline, not just your workload.
Does your school certificate qualify you for this subject? The general entrance qualification is subject-linked, so the answer differs by programme within the same university.
What language is the programme taught in, at your level? English-taught bachelor's places are scarce outside the private sector; English-taught master's places are common.
What does this specific institution charge you? Statutory at a public university or teacher-education college, provider-set at a Fachhochschule, and entirely institutional in the private sector.
Does the programme include a placement? Structural at the Fachhochschulen, optional and self-organised at the universities.
City and cost. Vienna concentrates the choice but is the most expensive Austrian city to live in; Graz, Linz, Innsbruck, Salzburg and Klagenfurt all cost less, and the funds requirement for your permit does not fall to match.
How many, and of what kind
A workable Austrian shortlist has three layers. One or two ambitious choices — a capped programme at Vienna, TU Wien or WU — where you accept that the entrance test decides. Two or three realistic choices in the same or an adjacent field at a university where that subject is not access-regulated, which is where most applicants actually enrol. And one fallback: a Fachhochschule programme in the same field, or a related non-capped subject you would genuinely be willing to study. Five to six applications is a sensible ceiling, because each capped programme costs you a separate registration and a separate test date.
Mistakes that end an Austrian application
Discovering in June that your subject closed its registration window in May.
Assuming a subject is capped nationally, and skipping the universities where it is not.
Treating a Fachhochschule as a fallback for a rejected university application — the FH deadlines are separate and often earlier, and the selection procedure is not a formality.
Applying to an English-taught bachelor's programme in the private sector without pricing three years of it against the permit's funds requirement.
Reading one national tuition figure and planning around it, when the same degree costs 821 USD or 3,390 USD or 10,170 USD a semester depending on sector.
Austria has no central undergraduate application platform and no national entrance examination outside medicine; each university runs its own process. The foundation of every bachelor's application is the general university entrance qualification, which is assessed from your school-leaving certificate together with evidence of what that certificate entitles you to study at home. Supplementary examinations may be prescribed to close gaps between your school curriculum and the Austrian one — in Latin, in a second language, or in a subject specific to your programme — and the university determines which apply only while processing your documents, not in advance[11].
Where supplementary examinations are required, the preparatory course run by the OeAD is the standard route: it teaches German as a foreign language alongside mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, English, history and geography, and prepares students admitted with conditions for exactly those examinations[17].
Master's applications are more straightforward, because a completed foreign bachelor's degree from an accredited institution is assessed on its own terms rather than against a school curriculum. What matters at this level is subject alignment: faculties routinely admit with conditional credits where the previous degree covers only part of the expected foundation.
Documents and legalisation
A third-country bachelor's application to the University of Vienna consists of a passport scan, the secondary-school certificate with the legalisation the issuing country requires, the original subject and marks list with the same legalisation, any previous higher-education transcripts, and proof of German at A2 or above for German-taught programmes or English at B2 or above for the English-taught ones. Legalisation requirements differ by country — an apostille in some, full diplomatic certification in others, and a specific ministry route for Nigerian documents[11]. Applicants whose previous education was in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh have one more step: from winter semester 2026/27 they must take an in-person competence check at VFS Global before applying to a bachelor's, diploma or master's programme at the University of Vienna. The check does not replace the Admission Office's review, the entrance procedure or any supplementary examinations. Nigerian documents need the education ministry's legalisation and a proof from the university before the Austrian embassy issues its over-legalisation. Start this step early; it is the part of the process that is outside your control.
Language: A2 to apply, C1 to graduate
The two-stage German requirement confuses many applicants. A2 is enough to submit an application to a German-taught programme at the University of Vienna; it is nowhere near enough to study. Universities admit candidates conditionally and expect them to reach the level the curriculum demands, which is why the preparatory course exists. Treat A2 as the door and C1 as the room: budget twelve to eighteen months of serious study between them, and start before you apply rather than after.
Deadlines
Non-EU applicants face earlier windows than EU ones, and the gap is significant. For the 2026/27 winter semester the University of Vienna took third-country applications from 22 June to 3 August 2026, against 22 June to 5 September for EU citizens; for the 2027 summer semester the windows are 16 November 2026 to 7 January 2027 and 16 November to 5 February respectively[18]. The winter semester 2027/28 windows had not been published when this was checked on 29 September 2026, so look for them on the same page before planning around the 2026/27 dates. Access-regulated programmes run on an entirely separate and much earlier calendar, registering in March and testing in July. Check both calendars for every programme on your list.
What Austrian universities cost in full
Tuition is the smallest part of the bill, and the residence permit makes that unmissable.
Public universities and teacher-education colleges charge third-country students 821 USD a semester under the statute, plus the student union contribution of 30 USD. EU and EEA citizens pay no tuition within the standard study period plus two tolerance semesters, and 411 USD a semester thereafter. Fachhochschulen may charge up to 411 USD by statute for funded places, but set their own rate for third-country students — FH Technikum Wien charges 3,390 USD a semester[2]. Private institutions price freely, in the 7,910-12,430 USD per semester range at MODUL University Vienna[3].
Nationals of a defined list of least-developed countries pay no tuition for the whole regular degree and owe only the student union contribution. The list includes Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Nepal, Bangladesh and Cambodia, among others; Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, India and the Philippines are not on it, so check the current list before assuming either way.
Against that, the permit requires documented funds of 817 USD a month under 24 and 1,478 USD a month from 24 onwards, available for twelve months in advance on an account in your own name and accessible from Austria, plus a non-refundable application fee of 246 USD that is not returned if the application is refused or withdrawn[12]. For a 24-year-old master's applicant that is 17,741 USD of evidence against roughly 1,702 USD of annual public tuition.
The smaller charges that still add up
The student union contribution of 30 USD is payable every semester by every student, at every institution type, and includes accident and liability insurance.
Health insurance is compulsory for residence and is a separate monthly cost from the funds evidence.
Laboratory, studio and excursion charges fall on science, art and geography programmes specifically, and are set per curriculum.
Programmes with entrance procedures may charge a registration fee for the test, payable whether or not you pass.
Austrian funding for incoming international students is concentrated at postgraduate and research level, and undergraduate scholarships are scarce enough that no plan should depend on one.
Fee exemptions and university funds
Nationals of the least-developed countries covered by the statutory exemption pay no tuition at a public university, which is the most valuable fee relief in the system; the list is in the cost section above. Beyond that, university-level fee waivers and hardship funds vary by institution and usually require a period of prior enrolment.
Research and teaching positions
Project-funded doctoral and research-assistant positions are employment rather than scholarships, and they are the most dependable funding in the system. They are negotiated with a supervisor or a research group rather than won in a national competition, which is why contacting academics before applying matters more here than any scholarship deadline.
External grants and home-country funding
The national scholarship database is run by the OeAD, Austria's agency for education and internationalisation, and is the correct starting point for any search — it lists federal, university and foundation programmes in one place[19]. The best-known federal scheme, the Ernst Mach Grant, funds doctoral candidates enrolled outside Austria and post-doctoral researchers under 35, with the deadline for the 2027/28 academic year set at 1 December 2026; it does not cover tuition for a regular degree programme[20].
Home-country or regional schemes — national education-loan products, state scholarships and employer sponsorship — are for most international applicants usually a faster path to the funds evidence than any Austrian competition.
Studying in English in Austria
English-medium study in Austria is real but strongly stratified by level and sector, and mistaking one level for another is a common planning error.
At bachelor's level in the public sector, English-taught programmes are rare rather than absent. The University of Vienna's English-taught bachelor's degree in the mathematical foundations of data science is one of the small number of examples, and it sits inside the access-regulated group, so an entrance procedure applies to it like any other capped programme[5]. Outside such exceptions, a public bachelor's degree means German.
At master's level the balance flips. English-taught master's programmes are widespread across the technical universities, WU Vienna, the life-sciences and data-oriented faculties, and much of the Fachhochschule sector, particularly in engineering, informatics and international business. This is the structural reason most international students reach Austria at postgraduate rather than undergraduate level.
The private sector is English-medium by design: MODUL University Vienna teaches its bachelor's and master's programmes in English, and Webster Vienna and the Central European University operate in English as a matter of institutional identity[15]. The trade-off is price and cohort composition. An English-taught private programme at 10,170 USD a semester puts you in a group that is overwhelmingly international, which suits some applicants and isolates others: if part of the reason for choosing Austria is to work there afterwards, a programme where you never need German will not prepare you for a labour market that does.
The practical rule: if you intend to stay after graduation, treat German as part of the degree regardless of the teaching language. The twelve-month graduate search permit is only as useful as your ability to interview in the language of the employer.
Austrian universities are woven into their cities rather than enclosed in campuses, with the notable exceptions of WU Vienna and JKU Linz, both of which built single-site campuses. Halls of residence are run by independent providers rather than by the universities, so accommodation is arranged separately from enrolment and should be started months in advance in Vienna.
Student services are real but self-service: international offices handle enrolment and permit questions, faculties run academic advising, and the student union provides legal and social counselling funded by the 30 USD everyone pays. What Austrian universities do not provide is the proactive pastoral structure of a British or American institution. Nobody will notice if you stop attending.
Where the sectors differ sharply is career support. At the Fachhochschulen the placement is part of the curriculum, so the institution maintains the employer relationships itself and the placement office is doing routine work rather than a favour. At the public universities, career centres run job fairs and advisory sessions but the initiative is yours, and the most productive employer contact usually comes through a research group, a departmental project or a student-assistant post rather than through a central service. Student societies matter more here than they look: subject associations inside the student union organise the company excursions and alumni evenings that turn into internships, and in a system with large anonymous lectures they are also the most reliable way to meet people.
One practical point that catches international students out: registering for courses and examinations is entirely your responsibility, deadlines are short, and the system does not warn you. A missed registration in an Austrian university usually means waiting a semester for the course to run again, which in a capped or sequential curriculum can push graduation back by a full year — and the residence permit is renewed against study progress.
On the way out, graduates of Austrian universities, universities of applied sciences and private institutions can extend their residence permit by twelve months to look for work or start a business, and can then move to the Red-White-Red Card without a labour market test, provided the job matches their qualification level and pays the locally customary graduate salary. There is no points assessment for graduates[21]. That twelve-month window is generous by European standards and is one of the strongest practical arguments for the country.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find out whether my programme has an entrance exam?
Each university publishes its own list of programmes with an admission or aptitude procedure, separately from its general admission pages. Check that list for every university on your shortlist individually: the same subject can be regulated at one institution and open at another, and the regulated programmes have their own earlier calendar.
Is a Fachhochschule degree worth less than a university degree?
It is a different qualification, not a lesser one. Both are recognised Austrian degrees carrying the same ECTS weight, but the Fachhochschule route is built around practice and placements while the university route is built around research. A Fachhochschule cannot award a doctorate on its own, so if an academic career is the goal, the university route is the one to take.
Are Austria's private universities properly recognised?
Yes, provided they are accredited. Accreditation of private universities and private university colleges is mandatory and is carried out exclusively by AQ Austria as a formal official procedure, so an institution's accreditation status is a matter of public record rather than a claim on its own website.
Can I improve my chances by applying to a less popular university?
Materially, yes — but through the access rules rather than through prestige. Because each university regulates its own list of fields, moving a capped subject from Vienna to a university where it is not regulated can convert a competitive entrance test into a formal enrolment. This is the single most effective strategic adjustment available in the Austrian system.
What German level do I actually need, and when?
The level that gets your application accepted and the level that gets you through the first semester are different numbers, and the admission letter will not tell you so. Assume you need to be able to follow a two-hour lecture and write an examination in German by the time teaching starts, and work backwards from there. If supplementary examinations are also prescribed, the OeAD preparatory course teaches the language and those subjects together, which is usually faster than arranging both separately.
Which Austrian institution is the strongest choice for business?
WU Vienna, on the evidence rather than on reputation: it is the only Austrian institution holding EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA accreditation simultaneously, a combination fewer than one percent of business schools worldwide hold. Its bachelor's programmes are access-regulated, so the entrance procedure is part of the plan.
Do I need to choose between Austria and Germany on tuition alone?
No, and tuition is the wrong axis for the comparison. The decisive differences are the access rules — in Austria each university caps its own list of fields, with medicine capped nationally, while German states run their own systems — the twelve-month post-study search window, and the size of the English-taught undergraduate offering. Compare the specific programme in each country, not the two systems in the abstract.
