Studying without a matura: Alternative pathways to higher education in Austria

According to the decisions of the Bologna Ministerial Conferences, the student body should reflect the diversity of the population (LONDON COMMUNIQUÉ, 2007). However, educationally disadvantaged applicants, people with migration background and students from rural areas are significantly underrepresented at Austrian higher education institutions (BMWFW, 2017). The proportion of students whose parents have no higher education degrees is higher for admissions via vocational qualifications or an aptitude test than for traditional educational pathways (ZUCHA et al., 2020). These students were admitted to higher education via the so-called “third educational pathway”. This paper outlines the legal basis and the unpublished data on the third educational pathway to higher education.