Austrian academic titles
Have you completed a course at a public or private university, a university of applied sciences or a university college of teacher education? If so, you can be awarded an academic title.
What does an academic title look like?
There are long forms of academic titles, in German or English, and in some cases Latin, plus an associated abbreviation. All these forms of title will be stated in the award notice. You may choose to use one of the forms stated.
In some cases, a feminine and masculine form of the title are given for linguistic reasons. If you use one of these titles privately, you may also add a gender-specific suffix in German (e.g. Dr.in).
Please see the list of examples in the Annex for the main Austrian academic titles with all their permitted forms.
Can an academic title be awarded more than once?
If a candidate fulfils the requirements for the award of an academic degree multiple times, then the title should be awarded, and may be used, multiple times.
For example: a graduate from a master’s course in physics is awarded the title Master of Science. This graduate then completes a master’s course in chemistry and is thus awarded a second Master of Science title. This graduate is now entitled to use the initials MSc MSc after his or her name.
May I translate academic titles?
In Austria, degree award notices are issued in German, with an English translation enclosed. However, in order to ensure clarity, the titles themselves may not be translated.
Holders of these titles may of course also have the award notices translated into other languages. We recommend that you use a legally sworn translator for this.
Anex – examples of academic titles in Austria:
Bachelor degrees
Bachelor of Arts BA or B.A.
Bachelor of Engineering BEng or B.Eng.
Bachelor of Science BSc or B.Sc.
Masters degrees and diplomas
Diplom-Ingenieur / Diplom-Ingenieurin DI or Dipl.-Ing.
Diplom-Tierarzt / Diplom-Tierärztin Mag. med. vet.
Doktor / Doktorin der Zahnheilkunde Dr. med. dent.
Magister / Magistra der Naturwissenschaften Mag. rer. nat.
Magister / Magistra der Philosophie Mag. phil.
Magister / Magistra der Rechtswissenschaften Mag. iur.
Master of Advanced International Studies M.A.I.S.
Master of Arts MA or M.A.
Master of Laws LLM or LL.M.
Master of Science MSc or M.Sc.
Doctorates
Doctor of Philosophy PhD
Doktor / Doktorin der Bodenkultur Dr. nat. techn.
Doktor / Doktorin der medizinischen Wissenschaft Dr. scient. med.
Doktor / Doktorin der montanistischen Wissenschaften Dr. mont.
Doktor / Doktorin der Naturwissenschaften Dr. rer. nat.
Doktor / Doktorin der Philosophie Dr. phil.
Doktor / Doktorin der Rechtswissenschaften Dr. iur.
Doktor / Doktorin der Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften Dr. rer. soc. oec.
Doktor / Doktorin der Theologie Dr. theol.
Master’s degrees
Master in European Studies M.E.S.
Master of Advanced Studies MAS
Master of Arts MA
Master of Business Administration MBA
Master of Business Law M.B.L.
Master of International Business MIB
Master of Public Health MP
Master of Science MSc
Contact points
These are the academic departments at the individual universities or programme directors at the universities of applied sciences; at university colleges of teacher education they are usually the academic affairs departments.