Women now command 56% of Austrian university seats

Source: Schengen Visa Info

The proportion of female students at Austrian universities is higher than the opposite gender, overtaking them by 56 per cent, as Statistics Austria has revealed.

According to the authority, 219,754 women and 173,480 men were studying at Austrian higher education institutions in 2022, showing that the number of female students increased by 0.9 per cent while men were down by 0.2 per cent compared to the previous year, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

The same shows that the number of regular students enrolling has been on a downward trend, with the increase being minor in the winter semester of 2023.

Director General Tobias Thomas pointed out that the number of female students was on the rise as the number of male students dropped significantly.

Around 56 per cent of university students are now women, which means that the proportion of female students at Austrian universities has grown by two percentage points in the past five years.

Except for the theology studies, there are more women than men in all courses. Public universities have a proportion of 54 per cent for female students, while this rate is even higher for students enrolled in private universities (61 per cent), applied sciences (52 per cent) and education programmes (77 per cent).

On the other hand, the number of students at public universities dropped by 1.1 per cent, while that of applied sciences witnessed a 1.6 per cent decrease in enrolled students.

In addition, the number of regular students at private universities and the number of teacher training students at university colleges of teacher education increased significantly – 4.9 and 4.3 per cent, respectively.

All higher education sectors show considerable highs in the number of students compared to the previous winter semester, with some of those courses, including fee-based offers for continuing education, counted as extraordinary studies.

Regular studies, however, are in danger as the number of students enrolled in these types of studies dropped by 1.8 per cent, while the decline in regular male students in degree programmes was higher for men ( two percentage points) compared to a 1.5 per cent decrease of female students.

The arts and humanities programme saw the largest decrease in male students – 5.6 per cent less than in the previous semester, followed by the number of students enrolled in natural sciences, mathematics and statistics (4.1 percentage points) and a three per cent decrease in business, administration and law studies.

On the other hand, the information and communication technologies recorded a 3.4 per cent increase in the number of male students, with the health and welfare studies also recording a 3.1 per cent increase compared to the previous semester.