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: Austrian Art
Famous quotes containing the word education:
“Very likely education does not make very much difference.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“As for the graces of expression, a great thought is never found in a mean dress; but ... the nine Muses and the three Graces will have conspired to clothe it in fit phrase. Its education has always been liberal, and its implied wit can endow a college.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911)