Second Degree in Austria: Your Options as a Graduate

Three ways to study in Austria when you already have a degree

Three questions decide this: whether Austria allows a second bachelor’s, whether you can change field at master’s level, and whether an HND or diploma buys entry part-way through a degree.

The answers are short. A second bachelor’s is allowed — Austria’s rule is yes — with no places reserved for first-time students and no fee penalty. A conversion master’s in the British sense does not exist: Austrian master’s admission is built on subject fit, and where the fit is partial the university prescribes supplementary examinations rather than a separate conversion year. A top-up into the final year of a bachelor’s does not exist either, because a three-year HND is treated as an entrance qualification, not as credit.

The honest default: if your degree is in or near the field you want, apply straight to a master’s and accept the supplementary examinations; if it is in a different field, plan a full Austrian bachelor’s. That means 180 ECTS over 3 to 4 years at €726.72 per semester. Both routes use the same residence permit and the same early non-EU deadlines.

A second bachelor’s in Austria

Austria has no second-degree quota of the German kind. A graduate applying for a bachelor’s is assessed on the same entrance qualification as a school-leaver, pays the same €726.72 per semester third-country Studienbeitrag, and keeps the same priority. The degree you already hold costs you nothing and buys you nothing.

You may also hold several Austrian degree programmes at once, a Doppelstudium, paying tuition and the €26.20 per semester ÖH union fee once per semester however many programmes you hold. The single bar is the same programme at two Austrian universities at once.

What Austria does not publish is whether admissions offices rank second-bachelor applicants below first-time ones — no national rule on that was found, so treat selective programmes as selective and apply to more than one. Credit is not automatic either. It is granted only by individual recognition, Anerkennung, of specific examinations by the admitting university, one course at a time.

A second bachelor’s makes sense when you need the Austrian qualification itself — a regulated profession, a genuine change of field — not when you hope to shorten the programme. Our Austria bachelor’s guide covers the entrance rules for each origin certificate.

Changing field with a conversion master’s

There is no Austrian equivalent of a British conversion master’s. The rule is this: No dedicated one-year conversion master's exists. Austrian master's admission requires a subject-related bachelor's; where the fit is partial, universities admit conditionally and prescribe supplementary examinations from the bachelor programme — up to 30 ECTS at the University of Vienna, to be completed by the end of the second master's semester, within the normal 120-ECTS / four-semester master's rather than as an extra year. A completely unrelated bachelor's does not open a master's in the new field; the route there is a fresh bachelor's.

So the switch you can make is a lateral one, not a jump. TU Wien draws the boundary in numbers: a gap of 30 ECTS or less becomes supplementary coursework, a larger gap makes the application inadmissible.

English-taught master’s places are plentiful, which makes a lateral switch realistic without German. The University of Vienna lists 43, the University of Graz 30 and TU Graz 23. All charge the public rate of €726.72 per semester. The English bar differs: IELTS 6.5 at the University of Vienna against 7 at the University of Graz. Compare them on our Austrian universities page.

HND and diploma holders: top-up routes

A top-up year does not exist in Austria. Not available: Austria has no top-up or final-year entry into a bachelor's. A three-year HND from an accredited institution is instead treated as satisfying the bachelor's entrance qualification, so the holder starts a full Austrian bachelor's; an HND of other length can qualify with up to four supplementary examinations. Credit for prior study is granted only by individual recognition (Anerkennung) of examinations by the university, not by a standard advanced-entry route. A completed top-up bachelor's from Nigeria or Ghana can access a master's with up to four supplementary examinations or 40 ECTS of additional coursework. Recognition bodies: OeAD ENIC-NARIC Austria and the admitting university.

Read that as good news at the door and bad news on the clock. Your HND opens an entrance that WASSCE alone does not, then starts you at semester one of a 180-ECTS programme.

Two alternatives usually work better. Finish the top-up bachelor’s at home and apply to an Austrian master’s, the route documented for Nigerian and Ghanaian holders. Or sit the prescribed supplementary examinations through the Vorstudienlehrgang, the 10-month preparation programme at €500–612 per semester — see our Austria foundation year page.

Visa, age and funding for a second degree

The student permit treats a second degree exactly like a first. You need an admission letter, all-risk health insurance, accommodation, and proof of funds of €722.58–1,308.39 per month for twelve months in advance. The fee is €218 and a decision takes 13–26 weeks, so file at least six months ahead. Austria’s age limit is none, and no purpose-of-stay test specific to a second degree at a level you already hold is published.

The risk sits at renewal, not at the first grant: every year you must document 16 ECTS or 8 semester-hours of progress, so a second degree run as a side project loses the permit. Unrecognised prior qualifications and an inconsistent study record are listed refusal grounds too, so a file that shows one clear reason for the second degree survives better. Full document list on our Austria student visa page.

Funding is the weak point. The OeAD Ernst Mach Grant, the main national scheme open to African applicants, pays for a research stay of 1 to 9 months (Ernst Mach worldwide); 4 to 10 months at a university of applied sciences; the grant must be consumed by the end of 2028 and states expressly that it may not finance a complete or partial degree programme. University merit and support grants are restricted to Austrian and EEA citizens. Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters stay open, covering tuition in full plus €1,400 per month, unless you have already held one. See Austria scholarships.

How to apply with a degree in hand

1. Have the degree assessed before you choose a route. Austria runs no central credential check for admission: each university assesses foreign certificates itself, and ENIC-NARIC Austria evaluates only for regulated professions. Send transcripts to two or three admissions offices and ask what they would prescribe.
2. Pick the route from that answer. Close subject fit means a master’s with supplementary coursework. No subject fit means a full bachelor’s. A master’s application in a field your degree does not touch is inadmissible, not merely weak.
3. Start legalisation immediately. Apostille is enough only for South Africa and Morocco; the other seven of our countries need full consular legalisation, several weeks per document. No APS certificate is required.
4. Apply to each university directly. Austria has no national application portal; the official overview is at studyinaustria.at.
5. Work to the non-EU window, not the statutory date. Third-country deadlines close earlier: the University of Vienna’s winter master’s window for non-EU applicants runs late June to early August.
6. Meet the language condition set by the programme, not the permit. National floors are IELTS 6 for a bachelor’s and 6.5 for a master’s; German-taught programmes need C1.
7. Place the funds and buy the insurance. Twelve months of subsistence money in an account in your own name, or a sponsor’s guarantee with six months of their statements, plus cover of at least 30,000 euro at entry.
8. File the permit application at the Austrian mission at home, give fingerprints, pay €218, and keep your study plan consistent with the degree you hold.