Country education guide

Austria

Federal law and the Federal Ministry of Education frame the school system, with education directorates and school types administering pathways.

📚 School stages

Grades, stages, and local pathways

Early childhood education is followed by the compulsory primary entry stage.

Four years of primary school lead to one of the lower-secondary routes.

Learners attend compulsory secondary school or the lower cycle of academic secondary school.

Upper-secondary routes differ in duration, vocational content, certification, and higher-education access.

Access depends on the leaving qualification and any programme selection procedure.

📝 Examinations and qualifications

Each record links to the authority that publishes its current rules.

School-leaving qualification

Standardisierte Reife- und Diplomprüfung

The standardised competence-oriented diploma and Reifeprüfung used in academic and higher vocational secondary routes.

Completion or score rule: The award combines school and examination components under the applicable AHS or BHS regulations; programme admission can add selection requirements.
Where it applies: Austria

🔗 Official source library