Higher institutes. – According to topschoolsintheusa, the following higher institutes currently exist in Austria: 1. the University of Vienna, with five faculties: Catholic theology, evangelical theology, legal and political sciences, medicine, philosophy (the latter, in all Austrian universities, includes the philosophical, literary and natural disciplines); 2. the University of Graz, with four faculties: Catholic theology, legal and political sciences, medicine, philosophy; 3. the University of Innsbruck, with the same faculties as that of Graz; 4. the theological faculty of Salzburg; 5. the higher technical institute of Vienna, with five faculties: civil engineering, architecture, mechanics (with the following subdivisions: mechanics proper, electrical engineering, naval engineering and mechanics), chemistry (with the following subdivisions: technical physics, topography and a course for insurance assessors); 6. the higher technical institute of Graz, with four faculties: engineering (with a subdivision for topography), architecture, mechanics, chemistry; 7. the Vienna Higher Institute of Agriculture, with three fields of study: agriculture, forestry, agricultural technology; 8. the Vienna Veterinary Institute; 9. the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts; 10. the Vienna academic school for medal artisans; 11. the Vienna Higher Institute of Music and Fine Arts; 12. the Vienna College of Commerce; 13. the Leoben Higher Institute of Mining Sciences. the Vienna Higher Institute of Agriculture, with three fields of study: agriculture, forestry, agricultural technology; 8. the Vienna Veterinary Institute; 9. the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts; 10. the Vienna academic school for medal artisans; 11. the Vienna Higher Institute of Music and Fine Arts; 12. the Vienna College of Commerce; 13. the Leoben Higher Institute of Mining Sciences. the Vienna Higher Institute of Agriculture, with three fields of study: agriculture, forestry, agricultural technology; 8. the Vienna Veterinary Institute; 9. the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts; 10. the Vienna academic school for medal artisans; 11. the Vienna Higher Institute of Music and Fine Arts; 12. the Vienna College of Commerce; 13. the Leoben Higher Institute of Mining Sciences. Vienna College of Commerce; 13. the Leoben Higher Institute of Mining Sciences. Vienna College of Commerce; 13. the Leoben Higher Institute of Mining Sciences.
Austrian colleges provide the following academic qualifications: degree in theology (Catholic and Evangelical), in law, in economics, in medicine, in philosophy; pharmacy diploma; degree in technical sciences, agriculture, veterinary science, mineral sciences.
The students of the technical and mining faculties, who have completed their course of study and passed the two prescribed state exams, and those of the agricultural faculty, who have followed the courses and passed three state exams, are entitled to the qualification ‘engineer.
The students of the Austrian universities (except those of the commercial institute and the two institutes of fine arts) were 17,276 in the winter semester of the school year 1927-28. And of these, 10,440 attended high schools in Vienna.
Commercial and professional education. – In addition to the schools listed up to now, there are in Austria a highly developed commercial and professional school organization and special agricultural and forestry courses. Commercial academies, with four-year courses, can be accessed after having attended the Hauptschule or a junior high school; they prepare students for admission to the institute of commerce and – under certain conditions – also for the study of legal and political sciences. In addition to commercial academies, there are lower trade schools, with two-year courses and postgraduate schools for traders.
The number of students, in the school year 1926-27, reached the following figures:
The number of pupils in professional education institutes (higher professional institutes, special schools for individual professions, women’s institutes, special and general training institutes) reached the figure of 83,553.
The 95 agricultural and forestry schools were attended, in the year 1927, by 3258 pupils.
School reform. – After the change of government in 1918, a reform of the school regulations began in Austria, which can be said to have been effectively implemented in the 1927 school law.
Following the reform, the Bürgerschulen, with three-year courses, were transformed into the Hauptschulen, with four-year courses; but above all the teaching methods were modified. The principle of the so-called school of work, which aims at the maximum independence of the pupil, was largely abandoned. In the first elementary classes, instead of the timetable exactly divided by subjects, there was an overall teaching. Drawing, manual work, gymnastics gained greater development.
In middle schools, the individual types of schools were reorganized and curricula were reformed, based on the most modern theories.
