Good Education: Directly from Studying to Working

Current data of the "Absolvent*innen-Tracking” (graduate tracking, ATRACK) of Statistics Austria show that graduates of universities and universities of applied sciences are very successful when it comes to entering the professional world.

Trained according to the state of the art in research, they strengthen the Austrian labour market in all areas of the industry and society. Unemployment is very low among people with a tertiary-level education.

For the graduates of the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, the results of the study were very positive as well.

Low Unemployment

The latest graduate tracking of Statistics Austria shows that alumni of the St. Pölten UAS are fast to make a career and are very well integrated in the labour market.

Three years after graduation, the unemployment rate among bachelor and master degree graduates of the St. Pölten UAS ranges from 1.8 to 2.1 percent. The majority of students either find a job directly after graduation or become self-employed: Three years after graduation, the rate of working graduates (meaning the share of graduates who are either employed or self-employed) amounts to approximately 84 percent for bachelor graduates, and roughly 89 percent for master graduates. With these high employment rates, the alumni of the St. Pölten UAS surpass the Austrian average for graduates of higher education in this category.

“Our students tend to enter the workforce fast. On average, our graduates have already found their first job between one and two months after graduating. About one fourth of our graduates already have a job when they complete their studies, or even before”, says UAS Executive Director Johann Haag in reference to the study.

“This shows that we are doing something right with the strong practical relevance of our study programmes and the high quality of teaching that give our graduates the best possible preparation for their professional life and the requirements that come with it”, adds Chairperson of the UAS Board Alois Frotschnig.

Successful Business Foundations

Many graduates of the St. Pölten UAS start their own business after graduation. The share of self-employed persons among the alumni is relatively high: Three years after graduation, approximately seven percent of the St. Pölten UAS’ bachelor and master graduates lead their own company. The number of self-employed alumni is particularly high in the Department of Media and Digital Technologies and the Department of Health Sciences.

The St. Pölten UAS promotes this start-up tendency and entrepreneurial spirit in a number of ways: For example, through the “7 Steps to Start-Up” strategy, the start-up programme Creative Pre-Incubator, the SMARTUP St. Pölten initiative, and the Digital Makers Hub. Start-ups play an important role in the European University E³UDRES², which is coordinated by the St. Pölten UAS, and especially in the E³UDRES² Entrepreneurship and Innovation Network E.I.N.S.

A Master’s Degree Pays off

A higher degree is usually accompanied by a higher salary. The median gross monthly salary three years after graduation is EUR 2,887 for St. Pölten UAS bachelor graduates, while graduates of master degree programmes earn an average (median) of EUR 3,246.

About the ATRACK Graduate Tracking

Since 2017, the public universities – under the lead of the University of Vienna – have formed the ATRACK consortium that has included 13 universities of applied sciences as well since 2022. For the tracking, Statistics Austria analyses and merges the data concerning the career starts and paths of graduates in the Austrian labour market. In this context, the office examines all bachelor, master, diploma, PhD, and continuing education programmes as well as ISCED groups of studies of all 34 participating higher education institutions.

• A press release by the University of Vienna on the topic
• A press release by Statistics Austria on the topic (PDF)