Education
Main article: Education in AustriaEmpress Maria Theresa instituted the "General School Regulations,in 1774", creating the Austrian educational system. Eight-year compulsory education was introduced in 1869. Currently, compulsory schooling lasts nine years.
Four years of elementary school (Volksschule for ages 6–10) are followed by secondary education in a Hauptschule, or the first four years of Gymnasium as intermediate school. It has to be noted that in particular in the rural areas, there is quite often no gymnasium available, so everyone attends the hauptschule.
After the age of 14, students have their first real choice to make, no matter which they have attended until then. They can spend a year at the polytechnic school which qualifies them for vocational school as part of a apprenticeship. Or they can go to the Höhere Technische Lehranstalt (HTL), which are technically-orientated higher colleges and a unique feature of the Austrian educational system within Europe. Finalising the HTL permits to use the title "Ing." (Engineer). Another option would be the Handelsakademie with a focus on accounting and business administration. Finally there is the Gymnasium which ends with the Matura exam as the ultimate preparation for a further education at a university. There are a couple of other school types not mentioned here.
An alternative to university is the Austrian Fachhochschule, which is more practically oriented than a university but also leads to an academic degree. As part of the Bologna process, both the education at universities as well as at the Fachhochschulen changes.
Federal laws enforce uniformity across provinces throughout the educational system.
All state-run schools are free of charge. The largest university is the University of Vienna.
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Austria
Famous quotes containing the word education:
“A good education is another name for happiness.”
—Ann Plato (1820–?)
“Do we honestly believe that hopeless kids growing up under the harsh new rules will turn out to be chaste, studious, responsible adults? On the contrary, by limiting welfare, job training, education and nutritious food, won’t we plant the seeds for another bumper crop of out-of-wedlock moms, deadbeat dads and worse?”
—Richard B. Stolley (20th century)
“Nature has taken more care than the fondest parent for the education and refinement of her children. Consider the silent influence which flowers exert, no less upon the ditcher in the meadow than the lady in the bower. When I walk in the woods, I am reminded that a wise purveyor has been there before me; my most delicate experience is typified there.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)