1. How to search for your field of study
To find the program of your interest is a primary task when you decide to go abroad for studies.
Here are links from where you can have a look at the study programs offered by Austrian Universities.
http://www.studyguide.at/ (Particularly for Austria)
http://www.mastersportal.eu/
Whole Europe. Here you can search for your field of study. The search tool here is very nice and sophisticated. You can sort your search results by country as well.
The first link actually is in German language but you can open it in Google Chrome which automatically translates pages in foreign language into English. This will make your life easy. For details on ‘Universities’ and ‘University of Applied Sciences’ please see the section “Difference b/w ‘University’ and ‘University of Applied Sciences’ ” First site is not very much detailed and you may not know the details for the program you are interested in, but at least you will know that which university is offering this program. After this step, you can Google the name of that university to access university website to get more information and details about study program, admission procedure fees and everything else.
The second link also gives some description of the program and in some cases its curriculum with the link to course home page. Which makes this site more attractive for program search and off
course this site is in English.
2. Admission to Austrian University
Unlike Sweden, Finland or Germany, there is no central authority for receiving and verifying documents in Austria. Each university conducts its admissions separately and they have their procedure different from each other. Please look at the website of your university to know details about admission procedure.
3. Eligibility Criteria for Admission in Masters and Bachelors
To apply for a Master degree program in Europe, one has to have a Bachelor degree of 4 years from Pakistan. This accounts of 16 years of education (Intermediate + Bachelor = 12 + 4 = 16 years of ducation). If, however, your Bachelors degree is of 2 years, then you will have 14 years of education and you are not eligible to apply for Master degree courses. So, in this case, you have to do Masters from Pakistan and complete your 16 years of education and then apply for Master Degree here in Europe.
To apply for Bachelor degree, you must have your 12 years of education completed. It means that Intermediate degree holder can apply for Bachelor program provided that he/she fulfills language requirements. Almost all Bachelor degree program in European countries are taught in their local languages e.g German, Italian and Finnish etc. However, you may find some Bachelor programs in English in some countries like Finland, Germany and Austria. Please look at university database of respective country to find info about that.
Admission to Bachelor degree program is usually accompanied by an entry test, some time. Some universities conduct entry tests in foreign countries if they have sufficient Bachelor degree applicants from that particular country. If you apply in such a program and your university does not conduct entry test in your home country, in that case you can join the test in other countries, where entry test is taken, for instance India or Nepal for that test.
4. Document Attestation from Austrian EmbassySome universities in Austria ask applicants to send documents attested by Austrian Embassy. If your university says so, then you have to send them attested documents by Austrian Embassy. If university website does not say so, then for admission, there is no need to attest your documents from Austrian Embassy. But for visa, you will have to attest them, as according to Embassy, this is a standard procedure which you have to follow. So, in either case you have to get your documents attested by Austrian Embassy. Here is a list of documents which Austrian Embassy Attests.
1- Academic Certificate (Metric, FSc, BSc and any other degree issued by a Pakistani
University or Institute)
2- Birth Certificate (Embassy verifies your birth by sending and advocate to your local area union council)
3- Police Clearance Certificate or Police Certificate.
First step of this attestation procedure is the verification. Embassy verifies each of your document by a third party organization linked to the embassy. Embassy pays them for this purpose. So, you have to pay Embassy to get your documents verified. Keep in mind that this is Verification fee. When documents are verified, embassy will call you to get your original documents Attested. Embassy will put a stamp at the back of your Original Documents with the signature of Counselor/Ambassador. They will charge 40-Euros (Fourty Euros Only) per document of yours, for attestation. You have to pay equivalent amount in your local currency.
For verification/attestation, it is better to make an appointment with the embassy, but you can go there on for documents submission without appointment as well.
After embassy is done with people with appointment, it will call you inside. But your turn may not come if there are too many people there. So it’s good to make an appointment. Embassy only attests your original documents and not photocopies. You will send photocopies of these attested documents to your university.
5. Admission Dates
Admission dates differs in different countries of Europe. Dates vary from university to university in Austria.
Most universities intake is annual and it is usually in fall semester. For fall semesters, admission starts usually in February, March. If university intake is also available in summer semester, then for summer semester, admission dates are usually in October, November. You have to consult website of your selected university to know final dates and information about intake. more details about Admission dates are available on the website of universities i.e are updated, time to time.
6. Language Requirements
Usually, Bachelors degree programs in most countries,all over the Europe are taught in local language of that particular country. There are very many universities which offer Bachelor degree courses in English.
But for Masters, case is different. From last decade, majority of universities which offered Masters courses have started Master degree courses in English. They say these courses as “International Master Degree Program”. It is called ‘International’ because it is in English.
If your selected program is in local Language then university will require you to have a certificate in their Local language e.g German, Italian etc. If program is in English, then they will require you provide English Language Proficiency Certificate (IELTS, TOEFL or in some cases, they may accept a Proficiency Certificate from your university).
To know about the score requirements in TOEFL or Band requirements in IELTS, you have to check your university website. Each university has its own requirement. Many universities accept IELTS band 6.0 or even 5.5, TOEFL iBT score 80. Some may require a higher score of 90 (TOEFL) or 6.5(IELTS). So, it would be nice if you strive for the maximum score in your Language Certificate to increase number of universities you can apply.
Note: Although your selected university may accept a Proficiency Certificate issued by your own previous university, this certificate will always be below the scores of IELTs and TOEFL. Since competition for admission is more and more every year, you may lose your position if your competents are providing IELTS/TOEFL as compared to you. So, it would always be better to provide an internationally recognized English Language Proficiency Certificate.
7. Visa Process
In general, visa process is same for all countries accept Austria. As, if your documents are not Verified and Attested by Austrian Embassy, they will do so first(this process takes 4-8 weeks) even
if your university does not require you to get them attested by Embassy.
When you have submitted your documents for verification, take an appointment from embassy after two/three weeks of this submission for your residence permit. This is to save your time when
documents are attested.
Once you get your admission letter from university and your documents are attested by embassy, you start your visa process. In Austrian case, application for visa is called “Application for Residence Permit”. You apply for Residence Permit and once your application is approved (It usually takes 4-6 weeks), embassy will call you to submit Schengen visa form. After you fill in that form and submit visa fee and submit your passport, you get your visa in 10 days.
The form for Residence Permit Application is a little complicated and is in German. It has around 10-12 pages. At first sight you may not be able to recognize even a word out of it. But with a little effort you can find the soft copy of this form on Google. I found it on the Austrian foreign ministry website. Once you get the soft form, you can give this .pdf or .doc to Google translator to get a Translation and then fill in the form. Otherwise, If someone of yours knows German language can fill this form.
The fee for Residence Permit Application is around 80-Euros (Eighty Euros only), which you have to submit while submitting your application. Almost same amount you will pay when you apply for Schengen Visa at last step.
Residence permit application is necessary for people (students) who want to stay in Austria for more than six months. Usually, Master degree program is of two years. Students who want to come to Austria for one semester or less than six months, they don’t need to apply for Residence Permit. I don’t have any further information about the visa process for this kind of students, also while going to Sweden i have met with a student traveling to Austria for studying in connecting flight till turkey, less than six month study, he was not having Residence Permit i.e just he purchased the ticket after admission, he told me while conversation, so better confirm it first then go ahead..
Application Form for Residence Permit and its explanation is also available on this site.
http://www.bmeia.gv.at/vertretung/taipeh/ratgeber/formulare-zum-download.html
This page is in German. You can translate it from Google Chrome or Google toolbar in IE or
Mozilla.
8. Money matters and Bank statement
If you are not holder of a scholarship then you have to prove that you have sufficient funds to cover the expense of one or two years. As, I know, Sweden requires the proof of two years. The rest of countries, including Austria, require you to show sufficient money for one year. Money for One year for Austria is around 9500 Euros (Nine Thousand Five Hundred Euros only—for age above 24 years). It changes a little bit every year. (Usually, increases). This amount of money is more than any other country in Europe. This is because Austria is a little bit more expensive then other countries. If your age is below 24 years, then you have to show 5258(Five thousand, two hundred and fifty eight Euros Only).
Please look at the following site
http://www.oead.at/welcome_to_austria/legal_practical_issues/entry_to_austria/nationals_of_third_countries/stays_for_more_than_6_months/students_at_austrian_universities/EN/
For updated amount of this money. (Please type above link in your browser if it does not work by clicking on. Otherwise, you can browse OEAD website for this information).
For Austria, your local bank account statement which is in your local currency will not be accepted except your currency is Euro. Actually, they require you to either open a bank account in some Austrian bank or provide them with equal amount of Traveler Cheques. Both things are not possible because you cannot open a bank account in Austrian bank unless you are in Austria and also Traveler cheques are not available in local country or You cannot buy them either. The solution is to open a Euro account in an internationally renowned bank etc. Submit this amount of Euros (9500-euros or whatever is required) into that account, get your bank statement, and attach it to your Residence Permit Application form. For Austria, money doesn’t need to be there for last six or 12 months. But it would be nice, if it is there for last 3 or 4 months. Even if it was not there for last 3, 4 months, it will not be a problem. You may have opened your euro account just a week ago.
If your university requires you to show proof of funds while applying for admission, they will give you a form to fill. This form will have some fields asking you to enter annual income of your family. Usually, university doesn’t need any proof at this time. So, you can just fill this form in to show that your family income is sufficient to support you. You don’t need to have money in your bank at this time.
9. Fees and Expenses in Austria
Usually, there is a tuition fee of around 363 Euros (Three hundred, sixty three Euros only) per semester in Austrian universities. This fee is quiet affordable or lesser than other European countries. Austria is a little expensive country in compared to other countries of Europe in term of Food and accommodation. For single person living alone in single room, the cost will be from 300 to 350 Euros per month (this includes rent, internet, electricity cost and food). Room rent is usually from 200 to 250 Euros/month. Furthermore it also depends on the city where you live. Capital and large cities are expensive as compared to small and remote areas. But even if you live in Capital, the monthly cost should not be more than 400 Euros. Food cost per month, as I estimated here is around 50 to 80 Euro's.
10. Accommodation Issues
When you are applying for Residence Permit Student, you have to show a document proving that you have accommodation for your stay in Austria. For this you must have booked room in a hostel
or a student dormitory. For this purpose you have to contact with your university they will provide you student dormitory or if they don’t have student hostel/dormitory so in this case you have to
book hostel/dormitory at your own. There are several student dormitories/Hostels in Austria named
1. Home 4 Students website: http://www.home4students.at/
2. Mozartheim website: http://www.mozart.uni-klu.ac.at/
3. Studentheim website: http://www.studentenheim.at/
Book your room there and they will provide you with an agreement that you will submit to the embassy as a proof of accommodation.
11. Health insurance in Austria
Health insurance is must is Austria. You have to get it once you arrive here. It costs you 50 Euros per month which is low as compared to Germany, where you have to pay 68 Euros per month. You have to get some travel health insurance when you apply for Residence permit from your local country. You have to get Insurance of at least 3 or 4 months from your expected travel/arrival to start of your study period. You will submit this insurance certificate with your Residence Permit Application. Once you are here, you will apply for student health insurance at a local insurance company. This health insurance is in fact local to whole Europe.
12. Difference between University and University of Applied Sciences
Before 10, 12 years ago, there were only Universities and there was nothing named like University of Applied Sciences (Fochhochschule in German abbreviated as FH). Then the government in German speaking countries (Germany, Austria) established this new type of university and named it “Fochhochschule” (FH), University of Applied Sciences. The purpose was to enhance industrial and practical courses in Bachelor and Masters.
Study at FH is more practical oriented in collaboration with industry, while at University study is more Research Oriented. So, if someone wants to work in Industry after his Bachelors or Masters, he should enroll in an FH and if someone wants to have more research in his study, then he should prefer University.
According to the definition or law, degrees from both FH and University are equvalent when compared by credit scores earned. Also, one who has done his Bachelor from an FH is eligible to enroll in Masters in a University. Similarly, a Master degree holder from an FH is eligible to enroll into PhD anywhere. But, unfortunately, this may not be exactly the case.
Generally, a degree from University is considered superior to a degree from FH, when you want to enroll for further studies. I know one of my friends who did is Bachelors from an FH in Germany, but he was denied admission in Masters in a University saying that you hold a degree from FH and you need to take more study courses to be eligible to enroll in Masters. So, that guy has no other way except to enroll in a Master course at some FH. This is one example which may not be implied as a general rule, but I wanted it to share this with you.
In, the case that you go for a practical work in an industry, then FH degree would be preferred over University degree. Generally, outside German speaking countries, people and universities don’t know the difference b/w FH and University. They consider both as university and degree of both as equivalent. Thismeans that if an FH master degree holder goes to some non-German speaking country to enroll in PhD, they may not consider this little difference and he will not have any problem in getting admission.
13. Step-by-step procedure for study in Europe
1. Get your passport if you haven’t made it yet. Passport is needed not only for IELTS/TOEFL but also it is required by every university where you want to apply for admission.
2. If you want to apply for Austria, Get your documents attested from Austrian Embassy whenever you have time. As, this may not be required for admission but it will eventually be required for visa.
3. Get your IELTS or TOEFL done on priority bases. This will make you eligible to apply for admission anywhere.
4. Get your documents attested from BISE, HEC and Foreign Office whenever you have time. Get sufficient copies attested from BISE and HEC so that you can apply to at least 3, 4 universities. Get your original documents attested from Foreign Office.
5. Make some Recommendation letters (2 or 3) from university professors you know. Make them general and not particular to any university so that you can use them while applying anywhere.
6. Meanwhile, think about arrangement of money which you have to show, once you get admitted.
Look around for people who may help you out. Also, pray for yourself so that some resources may appear out of nowhere.
7. Find your field of study in some university which is free or which has some nominal fee which you can afford. It’s better to make a list of universities where you think yourself eligible to apply and prioritize them. Look at university website in detail to know about admission procedure and fee matters. Some universities may want you apply online and then send your documents along with a printed copy of the online form. In some cases they may defer your documents until you have been preselected. If you are preselected, then they will ask you to send paper copies of your documents. The process depends on your university. In some cases they may conduct an interview.
8. Note down admission procedure and mark deadlines on your Calendar so that you may have no problem in future in meeting deadlines.
9. Apply for admission in time. It is better to apply as soon as possible when admission starts.
10. If you are admitted, you will be notified by email as well as you will receive an admission letter. After you receive your admission letter, you can start your visa process.
11. For Austrian visa, you have to show proof of accommodation arrangement. Your university will usually arrange you a proof of accommodation if you are admitted. You have to ask them for that. Proof of accommodation is necessary for Residence permit application.
12. Contact the embassy to make an appointment to apply for visa.
12.1. In case of Austria, you apply for Residence Permit.
13. Apply for visa (Residence Permit) as soon as possible. Usually visa process takes 4-6 weeks.
But it may prolong if there is some problem. In case of Austria, if your Residence Permit Application is accepted, embassy will ask you to submit Schengen visa form. They will call you in that case. Submit that Schengen visa form and you will get your visa in 10 days.
14. When you get your visa, and have your passport stamped by the embassy, book a flight and get yourself on a study abroad tour.
14. Some Useful Links
www.daad.de (German universities and scholarships data base)www.studyguide.at (Austrian Universities guide)
http://www.mastersportal.eu/ ( Master portal for all Europe)
http://www.oead.at/index.php?id=1916&L=1 ( Austrian Exchange Server. This is a very useful and informative link about study in Austria. You will find up-to-date information about financial
proof and scholarships available in Austria. It also contains detailed information on visa process, part time work and work permits in Austria)
http://www.bmeia.gv.at/vertretung/taipeh/ratgeber/formulare-zum-download.html. (For Residence permit application form and other documents)
Frequently Asked Questions
1- Can I go to Germany or any other European country, once I am in Austria after my admission to an Austrian University?
Yes. You can go to Germany or any other European country after you get Residence Permit Card from here. Since you are living in a Schengen country, you can go to other Schengen countries (25 countries) and live there for maximum of 3 months in a 6 months period.
If you plan to apply for any other European country, you can do that from Austria as well. For example, if someone plans to apply for some German university then he can apply there. If he gets
admitted then he has to apply for German residence/student visa, because with this Austrian residence, he can live in Germany for maximum of 3 months in a 6 month period. And again, you
will have to fulfill all the requirements laid by Germany for a student e.g. deposit of one year expanse money in German bank etc.
2- How university conduct Interview of an applicant?
If your university conducts interview for admission to Master degrees then this interview will be on Skype.
3- Is there any interview at embassy while applying for residence permit or visa?
If you are a student and you are applying for residence permit after your admission, then there will be a short interview at embassy. Usually interview questions include enquiry about your profession,
your job, your source of income and about your financial support etc.
(Confirm all the information from the university you are applying, i.e. is available on your website, usually they some time update their requirements, Best of luck)
To find the program of your interest is a primary task when you decide to go abroad for studies.
Here are links from where you can have a look at the study programs offered by Austrian Universities.
http://www.studyguide.at/ (Particularly for Austria)
http://www.mastersportal.eu/
Whole Europe. Here you can search for your field of study. The search tool here is very nice and sophisticated. You can sort your search results by country as well.
The first link actually is in German language but you can open it in Google Chrome which automatically translates pages in foreign language into English. This will make your life easy. For details on ‘Universities’ and ‘University of Applied Sciences’ please see the section “Difference b/w ‘University’ and ‘University of Applied Sciences’ ” First site is not very much detailed and you may not know the details for the program you are interested in, but at least you will know that which university is offering this program. After this step, you can Google the name of that university to access university website to get more information and details about study program, admission procedure fees and everything else.
The second link also gives some description of the program and in some cases its curriculum with the link to course home page. Which makes this site more attractive for program search and off
course this site is in English.
2. Admission to Austrian University
Unlike Sweden, Finland or Germany, there is no central authority for receiving and verifying documents in Austria. Each university conducts its admissions separately and they have their procedure different from each other. Please look at the website of your university to know details about admission procedure.
3. Eligibility Criteria for Admission in Masters and Bachelors
To apply for a Master degree program in Europe, one has to have a Bachelor degree of 4 years from Pakistan. This accounts of 16 years of education (Intermediate + Bachelor = 12 + 4 = 16 years of ducation). If, however, your Bachelors degree is of 2 years, then you will have 14 years of education and you are not eligible to apply for Master degree courses. So, in this case, you have to do Masters from Pakistan and complete your 16 years of education and then apply for Master Degree here in Europe.
To apply for Bachelor degree, you must have your 12 years of education completed. It means that Intermediate degree holder can apply for Bachelor program provided that he/she fulfills language requirements. Almost all Bachelor degree program in European countries are taught in their local languages e.g German, Italian and Finnish etc. However, you may find some Bachelor programs in English in some countries like Finland, Germany and Austria. Please look at university database of respective country to find info about that.
Admission to Bachelor degree program is usually accompanied by an entry test, some time. Some universities conduct entry tests in foreign countries if they have sufficient Bachelor degree applicants from that particular country. If you apply in such a program and your university does not conduct entry test in your home country, in that case you can join the test in other countries, where entry test is taken, for instance India or Nepal for that test.
4. Document Attestation from Austrian EmbassySome universities in Austria ask applicants to send documents attested by Austrian Embassy. If your university says so, then you have to send them attested documents by Austrian Embassy. If university website does not say so, then for admission, there is no need to attest your documents from Austrian Embassy. But for visa, you will have to attest them, as according to Embassy, this is a standard procedure which you have to follow. So, in either case you have to get your documents attested by Austrian Embassy. Here is a list of documents which Austrian Embassy Attests.
1- Academic Certificate (Metric, FSc, BSc and any other degree issued by a Pakistani
University or Institute)
2- Birth Certificate (Embassy verifies your birth by sending and advocate to your local area union council)
3- Police Clearance Certificate or Police Certificate.
First step of this attestation procedure is the verification. Embassy verifies each of your document by a third party organization linked to the embassy. Embassy pays them for this purpose. So, you have to pay Embassy to get your documents verified. Keep in mind that this is Verification fee. When documents are verified, embassy will call you to get your original documents Attested. Embassy will put a stamp at the back of your Original Documents with the signature of Counselor/Ambassador. They will charge 40-Euros (Fourty Euros Only) per document of yours, for attestation. You have to pay equivalent amount in your local currency.
For verification/attestation, it is better to make an appointment with the embassy, but you can go there on for documents submission without appointment as well.
After embassy is done with people with appointment, it will call you inside. But your turn may not come if there are too many people there. So it’s good to make an appointment. Embassy only attests your original documents and not photocopies. You will send photocopies of these attested documents to your university.
5. Admission Dates
Admission dates differs in different countries of Europe. Dates vary from university to university in Austria.
Most universities intake is annual and it is usually in fall semester. For fall semesters, admission starts usually in February, March. If university intake is also available in summer semester, then for summer semester, admission dates are usually in October, November. You have to consult website of your selected university to know final dates and information about intake. more details about Admission dates are available on the website of universities i.e are updated, time to time.
6. Language Requirements
Usually, Bachelors degree programs in most countries,all over the Europe are taught in local language of that particular country. There are very many universities which offer Bachelor degree courses in English.
But for Masters, case is different. From last decade, majority of universities which offered Masters courses have started Master degree courses in English. They say these courses as “International Master Degree Program”. It is called ‘International’ because it is in English.
If your selected program is in local Language then university will require you to have a certificate in their Local language e.g German, Italian etc. If program is in English, then they will require you provide English Language Proficiency Certificate (IELTS, TOEFL or in some cases, they may accept a Proficiency Certificate from your university).
To know about the score requirements in TOEFL or Band requirements in IELTS, you have to check your university website. Each university has its own requirement. Many universities accept IELTS band 6.0 or even 5.5, TOEFL iBT score 80. Some may require a higher score of 90 (TOEFL) or 6.5(IELTS). So, it would be nice if you strive for the maximum score in your Language Certificate to increase number of universities you can apply.
Note: Although your selected university may accept a Proficiency Certificate issued by your own previous university, this certificate will always be below the scores of IELTs and TOEFL. Since competition for admission is more and more every year, you may lose your position if your competents are providing IELTS/TOEFL as compared to you. So, it would always be better to provide an internationally recognized English Language Proficiency Certificate.
7. Visa Process
In general, visa process is same for all countries accept Austria. As, if your documents are not Verified and Attested by Austrian Embassy, they will do so first(this process takes 4-8 weeks) even
if your university does not require you to get them attested by Embassy.
When you have submitted your documents for verification, take an appointment from embassy after two/three weeks of this submission for your residence permit. This is to save your time when
documents are attested.
Once you get your admission letter from university and your documents are attested by embassy, you start your visa process. In Austrian case, application for visa is called “Application for Residence Permit”. You apply for Residence Permit and once your application is approved (It usually takes 4-6 weeks), embassy will call you to submit Schengen visa form. After you fill in that form and submit visa fee and submit your passport, you get your visa in 10 days.
The form for Residence Permit Application is a little complicated and is in German. It has around 10-12 pages. At first sight you may not be able to recognize even a word out of it. But with a little effort you can find the soft copy of this form on Google. I found it on the Austrian foreign ministry website. Once you get the soft form, you can give this .pdf or .doc to Google translator to get a Translation and then fill in the form. Otherwise, If someone of yours knows German language can fill this form.
The fee for Residence Permit Application is around 80-Euros (Eighty Euros only), which you have to submit while submitting your application. Almost same amount you will pay when you apply for Schengen Visa at last step.
Residence permit application is necessary for people (students) who want to stay in Austria for more than six months. Usually, Master degree program is of two years. Students who want to come to Austria for one semester or less than six months, they don’t need to apply for Residence Permit. I don’t have any further information about the visa process for this kind of students, also while going to Sweden i have met with a student traveling to Austria for studying in connecting flight till turkey, less than six month study, he was not having Residence Permit i.e just he purchased the ticket after admission, he told me while conversation, so better confirm it first then go ahead..
Application Form for Residence Permit and its explanation is also available on this site.
http://www.bmeia.gv.at/vertretung/taipeh/ratgeber/formulare-zum-download.html
This page is in German. You can translate it from Google Chrome or Google toolbar in IE or
Mozilla.
8. Money matters and Bank statement
If you are not holder of a scholarship then you have to prove that you have sufficient funds to cover the expense of one or two years. As, I know, Sweden requires the proof of two years. The rest of countries, including Austria, require you to show sufficient money for one year. Money for One year for Austria is around 9500 Euros (Nine Thousand Five Hundred Euros only—for age above 24 years). It changes a little bit every year. (Usually, increases). This amount of money is more than any other country in Europe. This is because Austria is a little bit more expensive then other countries. If your age is below 24 years, then you have to show 5258(Five thousand, two hundred and fifty eight Euros Only).
Please look at the following site
http://www.oead.at/welcome_to_austria/legal_practical_issues/entry_to_austria/nationals_of_third_countries/stays_for_more_than_6_months/students_at_austrian_universities/EN/
For updated amount of this money. (Please type above link in your browser if it does not work by clicking on. Otherwise, you can browse OEAD website for this information).
For Austria, your local bank account statement which is in your local currency will not be accepted except your currency is Euro. Actually, they require you to either open a bank account in some Austrian bank or provide them with equal amount of Traveler Cheques. Both things are not possible because you cannot open a bank account in Austrian bank unless you are in Austria and also Traveler cheques are not available in local country or You cannot buy them either. The solution is to open a Euro account in an internationally renowned bank etc. Submit this amount of Euros (9500-euros or whatever is required) into that account, get your bank statement, and attach it to your Residence Permit Application form. For Austria, money doesn’t need to be there for last six or 12 months. But it would be nice, if it is there for last 3 or 4 months. Even if it was not there for last 3, 4 months, it will not be a problem. You may have opened your euro account just a week ago.
If your university requires you to show proof of funds while applying for admission, they will give you a form to fill. This form will have some fields asking you to enter annual income of your family. Usually, university doesn’t need any proof at this time. So, you can just fill this form in to show that your family income is sufficient to support you. You don’t need to have money in your bank at this time.
9. Fees and Expenses in Austria
Usually, there is a tuition fee of around 363 Euros (Three hundred, sixty three Euros only) per semester in Austrian universities. This fee is quiet affordable or lesser than other European countries. Austria is a little expensive country in compared to other countries of Europe in term of Food and accommodation. For single person living alone in single room, the cost will be from 300 to 350 Euros per month (this includes rent, internet, electricity cost and food). Room rent is usually from 200 to 250 Euros/month. Furthermore it also depends on the city where you live. Capital and large cities are expensive as compared to small and remote areas. But even if you live in Capital, the monthly cost should not be more than 400 Euros. Food cost per month, as I estimated here is around 50 to 80 Euro's.
10. Accommodation Issues
When you are applying for Residence Permit Student, you have to show a document proving that you have accommodation for your stay in Austria. For this you must have booked room in a hostel
or a student dormitory. For this purpose you have to contact with your university they will provide you student dormitory or if they don’t have student hostel/dormitory so in this case you have to
book hostel/dormitory at your own. There are several student dormitories/Hostels in Austria named
1. Home 4 Students website: http://www.home4students.at/
2. Mozartheim website: http://www.mozart.uni-klu.ac.at/
3. Studentheim website: http://www.studentenheim.at/
Book your room there and they will provide you with an agreement that you will submit to the embassy as a proof of accommodation.
11. Health insurance in Austria
Health insurance is must is Austria. You have to get it once you arrive here. It costs you 50 Euros per month which is low as compared to Germany, where you have to pay 68 Euros per month. You have to get some travel health insurance when you apply for Residence permit from your local country. You have to get Insurance of at least 3 or 4 months from your expected travel/arrival to start of your study period. You will submit this insurance certificate with your Residence Permit Application. Once you are here, you will apply for student health insurance at a local insurance company. This health insurance is in fact local to whole Europe.
12. Difference between University and University of Applied Sciences
Before 10, 12 years ago, there were only Universities and there was nothing named like University of Applied Sciences (Fochhochschule in German abbreviated as FH). Then the government in German speaking countries (Germany, Austria) established this new type of university and named it “Fochhochschule” (FH), University of Applied Sciences. The purpose was to enhance industrial and practical courses in Bachelor and Masters.
Study at FH is more practical oriented in collaboration with industry, while at University study is more Research Oriented. So, if someone wants to work in Industry after his Bachelors or Masters, he should enroll in an FH and if someone wants to have more research in his study, then he should prefer University.
According to the definition or law, degrees from both FH and University are equvalent when compared by credit scores earned. Also, one who has done his Bachelor from an FH is eligible to enroll in Masters in a University. Similarly, a Master degree holder from an FH is eligible to enroll into PhD anywhere. But, unfortunately, this may not be exactly the case.
Generally, a degree from University is considered superior to a degree from FH, when you want to enroll for further studies. I know one of my friends who did is Bachelors from an FH in Germany, but he was denied admission in Masters in a University saying that you hold a degree from FH and you need to take more study courses to be eligible to enroll in Masters. So, that guy has no other way except to enroll in a Master course at some FH. This is one example which may not be implied as a general rule, but I wanted it to share this with you.
In, the case that you go for a practical work in an industry, then FH degree would be preferred over University degree. Generally, outside German speaking countries, people and universities don’t know the difference b/w FH and University. They consider both as university and degree of both as equivalent. Thismeans that if an FH master degree holder goes to some non-German speaking country to enroll in PhD, they may not consider this little difference and he will not have any problem in getting admission.
13. Step-by-step procedure for study in Europe
1. Get your passport if you haven’t made it yet. Passport is needed not only for IELTS/TOEFL but also it is required by every university where you want to apply for admission.
2. If you want to apply for Austria, Get your documents attested from Austrian Embassy whenever you have time. As, this may not be required for admission but it will eventually be required for visa.
3. Get your IELTS or TOEFL done on priority bases. This will make you eligible to apply for admission anywhere.
4. Get your documents attested from BISE, HEC and Foreign Office whenever you have time. Get sufficient copies attested from BISE and HEC so that you can apply to at least 3, 4 universities. Get your original documents attested from Foreign Office.
5. Make some Recommendation letters (2 or 3) from university professors you know. Make them general and not particular to any university so that you can use them while applying anywhere.
6. Meanwhile, think about arrangement of money which you have to show, once you get admitted.
Look around for people who may help you out. Also, pray for yourself so that some resources may appear out of nowhere.
7. Find your field of study in some university which is free or which has some nominal fee which you can afford. It’s better to make a list of universities where you think yourself eligible to apply and prioritize them. Look at university website in detail to know about admission procedure and fee matters. Some universities may want you apply online and then send your documents along with a printed copy of the online form. In some cases they may defer your documents until you have been preselected. If you are preselected, then they will ask you to send paper copies of your documents. The process depends on your university. In some cases they may conduct an interview.
8. Note down admission procedure and mark deadlines on your Calendar so that you may have no problem in future in meeting deadlines.
9. Apply for admission in time. It is better to apply as soon as possible when admission starts.
10. If you are admitted, you will be notified by email as well as you will receive an admission letter. After you receive your admission letter, you can start your visa process.
11. For Austrian visa, you have to show proof of accommodation arrangement. Your university will usually arrange you a proof of accommodation if you are admitted. You have to ask them for that. Proof of accommodation is necessary for Residence permit application.
12. Contact the embassy to make an appointment to apply for visa.
12.1. In case of Austria, you apply for Residence Permit.
13. Apply for visa (Residence Permit) as soon as possible. Usually visa process takes 4-6 weeks.
But it may prolong if there is some problem. In case of Austria, if your Residence Permit Application is accepted, embassy will ask you to submit Schengen visa form. They will call you in that case. Submit that Schengen visa form and you will get your visa in 10 days.
14. When you get your visa, and have your passport stamped by the embassy, book a flight and get yourself on a study abroad tour.
14. Some Useful Links
www.daad.de (German universities and scholarships data base)www.studyguide.at (Austrian Universities guide)
http://www.mastersportal.eu/ ( Master portal for all Europe)
http://www.oead.at/index.php?id=1916&L=1 ( Austrian Exchange Server. This is a very useful and informative link about study in Austria. You will find up-to-date information about financial
proof and scholarships available in Austria. It also contains detailed information on visa process, part time work and work permits in Austria)
http://www.bmeia.gv.at/vertretung/taipeh/ratgeber/formulare-zum-download.html. (For Residence permit application form and other documents)
Frequently Asked Questions
1- Can I go to Germany or any other European country, once I am in Austria after my admission to an Austrian University?
Yes. You can go to Germany or any other European country after you get Residence Permit Card from here. Since you are living in a Schengen country, you can go to other Schengen countries (25 countries) and live there for maximum of 3 months in a 6 months period.
If you plan to apply for any other European country, you can do that from Austria as well. For example, if someone plans to apply for some German university then he can apply there. If he gets
admitted then he has to apply for German residence/student visa, because with this Austrian residence, he can live in Germany for maximum of 3 months in a 6 month period. And again, you
will have to fulfill all the requirements laid by Germany for a student e.g. deposit of one year expanse money in German bank etc.
2- How university conduct Interview of an applicant?
If your university conducts interview for admission to Master degrees then this interview will be on Skype.
3- Is there any interview at embassy while applying for residence permit or visa?
If you are a student and you are applying for residence permit after your admission, then there will be a short interview at embassy. Usually interview questions include enquiry about your profession,
your job, your source of income and about your financial support etc.
(Confirm all the information from the university you are applying, i.e. is available on your website, usually they some time update their requirements, Best of luck)
Thanks for info!
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