FH Upper Austria Sees Growth in International Students and STEM Programs

Despite an overall stagnation in the number of first-year students in Austria, FH Upper Austria continues to boost its appeal. The university once again delivers strong results in the competition for motivated students: a clearly positive trend is already emerging. In the 2025/26 academic year, FH Upper Austria—with its campuses in Hagenberg, Linz, Steyr, and Wels—reports about five percent more first-year students compared to last year. The total number of students is also growing—early estimates suggest an increase of around three percent.

"The encouraging rise in applications is a clear confirmation of FH Upper Austria’s attractiveness and forward-thinking approach," says University President FH-Prof. Michael Rabl, who points to two key drivers behind this growth: "We’re especially pleased about the significant increase in international students and the growing interest in our STEM programs." Both developments are likely to be welcomed by businesses, which regularly call for more engineers and international talent.

For Rabl, this growing demand proves that FH Upper Austria’s practice-oriented and future-focused programs address exactly the topics that matter to young people. Strong demand across all four faculties underscores "the high quality, relevance, and excellent reputation of our university—both regionally and internationally."

Why the surge in interest?
Internally, FH attributes the renewed growth to a mix of factors. According to the deans of the IT faculty in Hagenberg and the Engineering faculty in Wels, FH-Prof. Berthold Kerschbaumer and FH-Prof. Roman Froschauer, the ongoing commitment to part-time study plays a major role. This approach helps companies and employees prepare for economic recovery, which is driving the already high demand for skilled professionals even higher. Both faculties show consistently positive trends—even in traditional programs like Automation Engineering in Wels, where the new Architecture program has also been well received.

Hagenberg’s AI program “Artificial Intelligence Solutions” has been another big hit. Of roughly 1,000 applicants this year, only about 35 could be admitted due to sector-wide enrollment limits. Graduates of vocational high schools are also increasingly choosing FH Upper Austria. Wels reports a growing number of students entering engineering programs without prior technical training.

Soft factors matter too
It’s not just the “hard facts” that attract students to FH Upper Austria. The Management faculty in Steyr saw the highest increase in first-year students. For Dean FH-Prof. Heimo Losbichler, the lively campus environment is a major advantage—especially given the faculty’s prime location right on the Steyr River.

In Linz, enrollment is up across all three areas: Society & Management, Medical Engineering, and Social Work. “Social Work in particular is in high demand again,” says Dean FH-Prof. Christian Stark. “For the first time, we were able to admit around 100 students to the bachelor’s program in Social Work.”