Rankings: The 14 best universities in Austria for 2025/2026
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Austria is a popular place for international students - and not just because of the affordable tuition fees: Although just a small country, many of its universities gain respectable scores in international university rankings.
The top university in Austria is the University of Vienna, which looks at nearly 800 years of academic tradition, and its alumni include celebrated scientists like Sigmund Freud or Erwin Schrödinger. Overall, however, the Austrian university landscape is rather young and modern: More than half of all institutions were established from 1960 onward, and many of those also rank highly, for example the University of Linz (founded in 1966) or Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt (founded in 1970). Many of the smaller universities focus on specific disciplines, so you can find a range of business schools, medical schools, art schools and others that offer the courses you are looking for.
| University | QS Ranking 2026 | THE Ranking 2026 | ARWU Ranking 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Vienna | 152 | 95 | 101 |
| TU Wien | 197 | 301 | 201 |
| University of Innsbruck | 350 | 301 | 201 |
| Graz University of Technology | 427 | 601 | 601 |
| Johannes Kepler University Linz | 473 | 401 | 801 |
| University of Salzburg | 650 | 601 | – |
| University of Graz | 668 | 501 | 601 |
| Alpen-Adria-Universit辰t Klagenfurt | 697 | 601 | – |
| Medical University of Vienna | – | 181 | 201 |
| Medical University of Graz | – | 201 | 401 |
| Medical University of Innsbruck | – | 201 | 401 |
| University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna | – | – | 601 |
| Central European University (CEU) | – | 251 | – |
| University of Leoben | – | 801 | – |
The QS World University Rankings are among the most important, most-referenced rankings. The QS ranking relies heavily on its academic survey, asking thousands of academics worldwide about the reputation of universities.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings (or the THE Rankings for short) compile a wide range of statistics. Equal weight is put on teaching quality, research excellence, and research impact through citations (meaning how often a universitys research is referenced elsewhere).
The Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (often just Shanghai Ranking, or ARWU) focuses on research output and quality, for example measured by the number of published and cited scientific papers and the number of staff or alumni winning the Nobel Prize or Fields Medal.
There are many compelling reasons to study abroad in Austria: World-class teaching at renowned universities, a high quality of life at cheap cost of living, and very low tuition fees for international students. With many universities and hundreds of English-taught courses to choose from, the central European country is not just something for mountain enthusiasts - there is something to be found for everybody.
Read more about studying in Austria
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