Foreign Applicants: Where Universities Want to See Higher Barriers

The number of applicants from third countries has recently increased massively. According to the Universities Conference (uniko), the high administrative effort leads to longer waiting times and poorer conditions for all applicants. Therefore, the universities want stricter hurdles for the admission process: Applicants from third countries should in the future have to prove a higher level of German and only start their admission process when all documents are available.

The universities definitely do not want fewer students from non-EU countries, as emphasized by uniko to the APA. Those who are admitted to study should be able to start more quickly. Because while the language level A2 according to the European Framework of Reference for Languages ​​(CEFR) is sufficient for admission, the universities require language level B2 (approximately high school level, note) or usually the even higher level C1 at the start of studies.

The lower the language level at admission, the more time applicants have to spend learning German in preparatory courses as extraordinary listeners before starting their actual studies. The universities assume that a higher language level at admission would not only lead to more success in the actual studies. They also expect fewer dropouts in the preparatory courses and thus a lower risk that individuals will not reach level C1 and have to leave the country again.

The number of those affected is quite relevant: In 2024 alone, 49,000 applicants who could already prove a language level A2 applied for admission according to uniko - and this excludes medical and art universities, which have their own regulations. In comparison: A total of 260,000 people study at the relevant universities. Compared to the admission applications, the number of students from third countries at the relevant universities is low at 25,000, who, according to data from the Ministry of Science, were actually able to start a regular study because they reached the necessary German level.

In addition, some applicants are never admitted due to missing documents. For the university administrations, however, these are precisely a problem: Due to the "deliberate submission of incomplete applications by numerous individuals," which then result in improvement orders, communication loops, and subsequent submissions, the processing time for all applications is delayed, criticized the Technical University (TU) Vienna recently in a statement. From the perspective of the university leaders, the earlier regulation should therefore be reintroduced, according to which only complete admission applications are to be processed.

According to the Student Ombudsman, the applicants themselves would also benefit from stricter language level requirements - not only because of higher chances of success in their studies. The measure would also lead to fewer admission applications. Due to the increase in applications, the Ombudsman was regularly contacted in the past academic year because admission decisions for foreign applicants were delayed. And this, in turn, meant problems with visa applications and official procedures.

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here .