Education in Austria
The Republic of Austria has a free and public
school system, and nine years of education
are mandatory. Schools offer a series of
vocational-technical and university preparat-
ory tracks involving one to four additional
years of education beyond the minimum man-
datory level. The legal basis for primary and
secondary education in Austria
is
the
School Act of 1962. The federal Ministry of
Education is responsible for funding and su-
pervising primary, secondary, and, since
2000, also tertiary education. Primary and
secondary education is administered on the
state level by the authorities of the respective
states.
Federal legislation played a prominent
role in the education system, and laws deal-
ing with education effectively have a de facto
constitutional status because, like Austrian
constitutional law, they can only be passed or
amended by a
two-thirds majority
in
parliament.
Private schools
Private schools that provide primary and sec-
ondary education and some teacher training
are run mainly, but by no means exclusively,
by the Roman Catholic Church and account
for approximately 10% of the 6,800 schools
and 120,000
teachers. Roman Catholic
schools have a reputation for more discipline
and rigor than public institutions, and some
are considered elite institutions. Because
there is no tradition of private university edu-
cation in Austria, the state has a virtual
monopoly on higher education. This has been
changing slowly in recent years as private
universities become more commonplace.
History
Mandatory primary education was introduced
by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria
(1740–1780).
The history of the Austrian education sys-
tem since World War II may be characterized
as an attempt to transform higher education
from a traditional entitlement of the upper
social classes to an equal opportunity for all
social classes. Before the School Act of 1962,
Austria had a “two-track” education system.
After four years of compulsory primary edu-
cation from the ages of six to ten in the ele-
mentary
sc