Winter semester 2023/24: Extension of tuition fee waiver for Ukrainian students
The BMBWF continues to help Ukrainian students in the winter semester 2023/24. Ukrainian students do not have to pay tuition fees at public universities or university colleges of teacher education.
Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the BMBWF has been supporting Ukrainian students with unbureaucratic and rapid assistance. As a result, Ukrainian students have not had to pay tuition fees since the summer semester of 2022. As third-country nationals, they would normally have to pay double that amount, at €726.72 per semester. For this purpose, the Tuition Fee Ordinance will be amended again for the winter semester 2023/24.
This affects Ukrainian students at universities and university colleges of teacher education
This regulation applies to all Ukrainian students who are enrolled at one of the 22 public universities or 14 university colleges of teacher education in Austria in the winter semester 2023/24. The BMBWF will reimburse the universities and colleges of education for the amount they lose as a result of this measure.
For the universities of applied sciences and private universities, the BMBWF cannot prescribe a general exemption due to their legal and financial framework. However, many universities of applied sciences and private universities have already announced their own support measures.
Special scholarship for Ukrainian students and researchers available in the summer semester 2023
The tuition fee exemption is only one of many support measures available for Ukrainians in the field of science and research. A further support measure constitutes the special scholarship program „Ernst Mach Scholarship-UKRAINE“. Ukrainian students and researchers, who want to start or continue their studies or research in Austria, will receive €715 per month per person for a period of one month to nine months, with the possibility of an extension to 21 months. Further details can be found on the website of the OeAD, the Agency for Education and Internationalisation, which implements the scholarhip.
Furthermore, many universities, other higher education institutions, research institutions and the Austrian National Union of Students (ÖH) offer their own support measures for Ukrainian students and researchers. The University of Graz has set up a website, which offers prospective students from Ukraine information and answers to current questions. The TU Wien has expanded the project „roomTUlearn“ for Ukrainian students by opening its centrally managed teaching rooms as learning spaces, so that they can continue their studies at their home university via online teaching.
The BMBWF offers an overview of the most important information and support measures for Ukrainian students and researchers at Ukraine – current information in the science and research sector (bmbwf.gv.at).