Procedures and Criteria

AQ Austria has issued the Decree of the Board of AQ Austria on the Accreditation of Private Higher Education 2024 (PrivH-AkkVO 2024, currently only in German) that specifies binding procedural rules and decision criteria. This decree entered into force on 15 January 2025. Pending applications for accreditation that were submitted prior to this date will be processed under the Decree of the Board of AQ Austria on the Accreditation of Private Higher Education 2021 (PrivH-AkkVO 2021) which was valid from 15 July 2021 until 14 January 2025. 

The procedural rules are almost identical for institutional as well as programme accreditation and comply with the principles of the ESG. Thereby, AQ Austria ensures international recognition of the Austrian quality assurance system and encourages international recognition of degree programmes.

As the AQ Austria acts as authority in accreditation procedures, there are furthermore the Austrian administrative procedural rules and regulations to be considered.