2,000 students without a minimum academic achievement

After the last summer semester, almost 2,000 people did not achieve the minimum study performance for first-year students and thus lost admission to the relevant subject at the respective university.

The lion's share, with over 1,100, was at the University of Vienna. According to the Ministry of Education, not a single case was registered at ten of the 21 universities affected. Overall, the measure led to an increase in examination activity.

With the 2022/23 academic year, a minimum study performance was introduced for new students in bachelor's and diploma courses. Anyone who does not complete at least 16 ECTS credits in the first two years of study will lose their admission to this university in the relevant subject. They can apply for it again after a period of two years.

The hurdle is not too high: Completing a bachelor's degree with a usual 180 ECTS would take 22.5 years at this pace, whereas the minimum period of study is only three years. In total, almost 43,000 new courses were started in the winter semester of 2022, meaning that almost five percent of them did not achieve the minimum study performance. Theoretically, a person could also have failed to achieve the minimum study performance in several courses.

At the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), the minimum study performance was not achieved in 277 courses, at the University of Innsbruck it was 163, at the University of Linz 128 and at the Vienna University of Technology (TU) 110. At the University of Salzburg 65 courses were affected and at the University of Klagenfurt 48. At all other universities there were only isolated cases, not a single one at the six art universities as well as the medical universities in Vienna and Innsbruck, the University of Veterinary Medicine and the TU Graz.

The University of Vienna has precise data on the structure of the missed minimum study achievements: Of the approximately 1,150 courses affected, in almost half (524) not a single exam was taken and in around 330 cases the course was terminated of its own accord. In 185 cases, a study achievement of between one and eleven ECTS points was registered. The specified target was only missed by a narrow margin (12-15 ECTS) in only 61 courses. According to the university, there was no discernible system in the study fields - subjects were affected across the board.

According to data from the Ministry of Education, the aim of introducing the measure has been achieved. The minimum study performance was primarily intended to lead to an increase in examination activity at the start of the course - an increase of two percentage points was recorded in the first year of study. A course is considered to be examination-active if at least 16 ECTS points are completed in one academic year.