Universities in Austria for African Students

Choosing a university in Austria

Austria has 77 higher-education institutions, in three groups. Public universities charge the flat national fee for third-country nationals and run research degrees. Fachhochschulen (universities of applied sciences) are vocational, smaller, set their own fees, and often keep places for students with work experience. Private universities set their own fees too, and are far more expensive.

Because the public fee is national, tuition is not what separates one Austrian city from another. Your monthly costs are. Vienna runs €1,200–1,600 per month; Klagenfurt runs €1,100–1,500 per month and Graz €1,000–1,300 per month. Over a three-year bachelor’s that gap is larger than any fee difference.

For an African applicant the two questions that decide the shortlist are what language the programme is taught in, and whether your school certificate is accepted for direct entry at that specific university. Rankings matter less: Austria has a handful of universities in the QS top 500 and many good departments in institutions with no overall ranking at all. Check the full cost of studying in Austria city by city before you fix on Vienna.

Top universities in Austria

Every public university below charges the same €726.72 per semester for non-EU students, plus the ÖH student union fee of €26.20 per semester. So compare them on subject, city and language of teaching.

University of Vienna is the largest, in the QS 2027 top 150, strongest in law, business and economics, computer science and data science, life sciences, psychology. It teaches many English master’s programmes and only one English bachelor’s.

TU Wien is the country’s leading technical university, ranked #191 in QS 2027, covering mechanical, electrical, civil and chemical engineering, informatics, architecture and spatial planning. Its bachelor’s programmes are in German; nineteen master’s are taught in English.

WU Vienna University of Economics and Business is the specialist for business administration, finance, international business, marketing and supply chain. It has many English-taught master’s and one English bachelor’s, and applies the same public fee, with a permanent waiver for citizens of designated least-developed countries.

Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), ranked #409 in QS 2027, teaches engineering, computer science, natural sciences, architecture and civil engineering, with twenty-three English-taught master’s and no English bachelor’s. University of Graz, in the same city, covers law, business and economics, environmental sciences, data science and global studies, with thirty English master’s.

University of Innsbruck (#350, QS 2026) is broad — engineering, informatics, business, law, natural sciences, architecture — in Austria’s most expensive student city, €1,150–1,650 per month.

Johannes Kepler University Linz (#458, QS 2027) is the place for business and economics, law, computer science and artificial intelligence, mechatronics and polymer engineering, with a handful of English programmes at both levels and living costs of €1,050–1,400 per month.

University of Salzburg (#572, QS 2027) offers computer science and data science, business, law, biology and chemistry, geography and earth sciences, with twenty English master’s. University of Klagenfurt (#683, QS 2027) is small and focused on informatics, technical sciences, data science, media and communications, and is the cheapest of the cities listed here.

Medical University of Vienna carries a QS 2026 subject ranking in medicine, but teaches in German. MODUL University Vienna (private) and IMC Krems (a Fachhochschule) teach entirely in English — tourism and hospitality, international business and sustainability at MODUL; business, health sciences and life sciences at IMC — and charge their own fees, not the public rate.

English-taught programmes

The English offer in Austria is lopsided. At public universities, English-taught bachelor’s degrees are close to non-existent: the University of Vienna and WU each list one, and TU Wien, TU Graz, the University of Graz and the University of Salzburg list none. English master’s are a different story — the University of Vienna, TU Wien, TU Graz, the University of Graz and the University of Salzburg each run twenty or more.

If you need an English-taught bachelor’s, the realistic route is a private university or a Fachhochschule. MODUL University Vienna and IMC Krems teach every programme in English, at private fees.

Universities set the language rule, not the immigration authority: the residence-permit checklist contains no language test at all. Typical English requirements are IELTS 6 for bachelor’s entry and 6.5 for master’s, with each university naming its own accepted tests and exemptions. If your degree was taught in English, ask the admissions office in writing whether that exempts you before you pay for a test — see studying in Austria without IELTS for which universities accept an English-medium letter.

Entry requirements for African students

There is no central admissions portal and no national credential-evaluation step: each Austrian university assesses your certificate itself. Two applicants with the same results can therefore get different answers from Vienna and from Graz.

For WASSCE and NECO holders, the pattern is consistent and hard: the certificate on its own does not carry university entrance. JKU Linz applies the OeAD recommendation of one completed year of university study at home or two supplementary examinations; TU Graz routes candidates to VGUH Graz supplementary exams where equivalence fails; the University of Vienna generally requires Ergänzungsprüfungen at the VWU preparatory college.

KCSE is assessed case by case everywhere. The University of Graz treats twelve years of schooling as meeting the general rule and checks the six-subject spread; Salzburg usually asks for one or two supplementary exams if the spread falls short.

The South African NSC with a Bachelor’s Pass is the strongest of the four: Graz, Salzburg and MedUni Vienna generally accept it as meeting the entrance rule, subject to the required subjects. The Moroccan Baccalauréat is generally recognised as a twelve-year certificate, though TU Graz also requires the Moroccan Concours entrance exam and the University of Vienna still routes most candidates through VWU exams.

Documents must be apostilled, and for medicine the barrier is not academic: statutory quotas reserve the overwhelming majority of MedAT places for EU citizens. Country-specific detail sits on the corridor pages, for example studying in Austria from Nigeria.

Tuition and scholarships

Public tuition is the flat national Studienbeitrag: €726.72 per semester at bachelor’s level and €726.72 per semester at master’s, for 2026/27, plus the ÖH fee of €26.20 per semester. Medicine costs the same, €726.72 per semester.

One exemption matters. Uganda and Zambia are on Austria’s least-developed-countries list, so their citizens pay only the ÖH fee. Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Morocco are not on that list and pay the full amount.

Private universities are a different order of cost: €18,000–24,068 per year at bachelor’s level and €14,000–22,000 per year at master’s.

Tuition is the small number; living costs are the large one, at €1,250–1,500 per month nationally plus health insurance of €78.84 per month. The main funding routes for African students are OeAD scholarships and Erasmus Mundus joint master’s, both listed on Austria scholarships; neither is large enough to count on as your only plan.

How to apply

1. Choose programmes by language of instruction first, then by subject. Shortlist three to five, including one Fachhochschule or private option if you need English at bachelor’s level.
2. Write to each admissions office with your certificate details and ask, in writing, whether it grants direct entry or requires supplementary examinations. Do this at least twelve months before the intake.
3. Get your certificates apostilled and translated. Austria requires apostilled documents, and court-certified translation where the original is not in German or English.
4. Apply through the university’s own system — there is no national portal; general guidance sits at studyinaustria.at. Non-EU deadlines close well before EU ones, often in early summer for the October start.
5. Sit any required language test, or obtain the English-medium letter your university accepts instead.
6. Complete supplementary examinations or preparatory-college requirements if your assessment asks for them, before enrolment.
7. Accept the admission letter, pay the semester fees, and arrange health insurance and accommodation.
8. Apply for the student residence permit at the Austrian embassy, allowing 13 to 26 weeks — the documents and funds rules are on the Austria student visa page.