Accreditation and Quality Assurance Procedures

AQ Austria carries out accreditation and other external quality assurance procedures, such as procedures based on the European Approach, at two types of higher education institutions in Austria. Universities of applied sciences and private higher education institutions require institutional accreditation and periodic renewal of institutional accreditation as a prerequisite for state recognition. The study programmes of these two types of higher education institutions must also be accredited by AQ Austria before the start of studies.

AQ Austria bases its external quality assurance procedures on the principles of peer review. All procedural steps and decisions on accreditation are decided by the AQ Austria Board on the basis of the established procedural rules and decision criteria, taking into account the specific characteristics of the applications. The procedures comply with the principles of the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG). As a rule, the procedures are supervised by a coordinator from the administrative office.

AQ Austria also offers voluntary accreditation procedures for universities and study programs abroad. With this accreditation, AQ Austria certifies that higher education institutions meet the criteria for international recognition. AQ Austria is an officially approved agency in Germany and Switzerland.

• The results of all accreditation procedures are published here. (in German)
• New accreditation applications can be uploaded via the AQ Hub.
• Information on the costs of the procedure can be found here.

For further information or questions regarding national or international accreditation, please do not hesitate to contact our secretariat staff. You can find the contact details here.