Studying in Austria: Significant Increase Among Foreign Students in the Corona Winter Semester 2020/21
After declining student numbers in previous years, both the number of foreign students and the number of students with Austrian citizenship increased by 4.6% and 2.6%, respectively, in the Corona winter semester 2020/21. The CEU - Central European University accounts for a good portion of the increase in foreign students. Detailed information on university statistics can be found below.
Studying in Austria in the Corona winter semester 2020/21: 27.3% of students were foreign nationals. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / GBW.at [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]
After stagnating or slightly declining student numbers in previous years, in the Corona winter semester 2020/21 the number of students at Austria's public universities, universities of applied sciences, universities of teacher education and private universities increased by 3.1%.
Compared to the winter semester 2019/20, the increase was 4.0% for women and 2.0% for men studying.
The number of students with Austrian citizenship increased by 2.6%, and the number of foreign students by 4.6%.
Increases in all university sectors
At public universities, there were 268,240 regular students in the winter semester 2020/21, an increase of 3,295 persons or 1.2% over the previous year.
The increase in regular students at universities of applied sciences was even greater, with an increase of 3,532 persons or 6.4% in the winter semester 2020/21, which was dominated by Corona.
At the teacher training colleges, there were 2,134 more teacher training students than in the previous winter semester (+12.9%).
At the private universities, there was an increase of 1,786 regular students (+14.7%), with a large part of the increase being attributable to the Vienna branch of the Central European University, which started its studies in the winter semester 2020/21.
Only at the theological colleges was there a decrease of 70 persons or 22.7% in the number of regular students. This is largely due to the closure of the Philosophical-Theological College of the Diocese of St. Pölten, which was already planned before the pandemic, starting with the winter semester 2020/21.
55.3% of students were women
Women in particular were increasingly drawn to the universities in the first winter semester after the outbreak of the Corona pandemic. Compared to the winter semester 2019/20, the number of female students increased by 4.0%. For men, the percentage increase was half that at 2.0%.
Of the total 387,775 students in the winter semester 2020/21, 214,273 were women, representing 55.3%.
With the exception of theological teaching institutions, more women than men studied in all higher education sectors: around three quarters (77.1%) of students at teacher training colleges were female, 60.4% at private universities, 53.8% at public universities and 51.1% at universities of applied sciences.
27.3% of students were foreign nationals
The strongest percentage increase compared to the previous year was observed among students with foreign nationalities (+4.6%).
The number of students with German citizenship increased particularly strongly in 2020/21 (by 3,658 persons or 9.4% compared to the previous year).
In this context, the share of Germans among foreign students at Austria's universities was 40.1% in the winter semester 2020/21. Comparatively moderate gains were seen in the numbers of students from Italy (+2.0%), the rest of Europe (+1.6%) and Asia (+3.1%), while the number of students from the Americas (-7.3%) declined in the winter semester 2020/21.
72.7% of students were Austrian citizens
In contrast, 281,791 or 72.7% of students in the winter semester 2020/21 were Austrian citizens. This means that 2.6% more Austrians studied at Austria's universities than in the winter semester 2019/20.