Abstract:
For some years now, technical universities (TUs) in Austria have been struggling with a particularly prevalent problem in terms of student population: it is getting smaller. In addition to a decreasing number of enrolled degree programmes, first-time Bachelor’s admissions especially have been falling continuously since the peak in the 2014/15 academic year. At TU Austria, the association of Austria’s three technical universities, the decline between the winter semesters 2014/15 and 2023/24 totalled 28% (Hochschulstatistik 2024a). At the same time, the labour market is demanding more technical specialists. The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), as the central funder of public universities, is also calling for at least a steady number of degrees in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) despite falling numbers of first-year students; by 2030, there should even be a 20% increase in STEM degrees at all Austrian universities (BMBWF 2024). TU Austria is used as an example to show how the three technical universities are responding to these requirements, what measures they are taking and how they are performing in the competition for students with universities of applied sciences.
Über den Autor:
- Hannes Müller,
M.A., Soziologe, Mitarbeiter Servicestelle Lehr- und Studienentwicklung, Technische Universität Graz. U.a. Koordination von Studienanfänger*innen-Initiativen, Unterstützung von qualitätsfördernden Maßnahmen in der Lehre
