Schools and universities

Vienna's position as a UN city and regional headquarters hub means it supports more international schools than its size alone would suggest, and the International Baccalaureate dominates. Every school below teaches to a globally portable qualification, admits children with no German, and is used to families arriving mid-career and mid-year. Fees are published per school year and are indicative — most schools add one-off application, enrolment and capital fees of several thousand euro on entry, so budget the first year noticeably above the headline figure.

The Lycée is the outlier on price because it is part of the French state's overseas network and is subsidised accordingly; it is academically rigorous and by no means a lesser option. Families comparing total schooling costs against Zurich, Munich or London will find the arithmetic favours Vienna — the wider comparison is set out on the cost of living and economy page.

The Austrian public system is free, well funded and academically serious; the selective Gymnasium track leads to the Matura, the qualification that opens Austrian and EU universities. Teaching is in German, with structured support classes for children who arrive without it — younger children generally absorb the language within a school year or two.

Vienna adds an option most cities cannot: the Vienna education authority's bilingual programme (Vienna Bilingual Schooling), in which state schools teach in German and English side by side with native-speaker teachers, at no cost. Places are sought after and allocated by the Bildungsdirektion für Wien, and entry is possible only at fixed points: the official enrolment window for the first year of primary school, and the moves into lower and upper secondary, each after an orientation interview. A child already at an Austrian school cannot transfer in mid-year, though an exception is made for children who move to Vienna from abroad during their primary years and have already been taught bilingually. A number of private Austrian schools also run bilingual or English-immersion streams at fees far below the international schools.

Kindergarten deserves a special mention. Municipal kindergartens in Vienna charge no attendance fee — parents pay only for meals, EUR 99.49 a month from September 2026, with an exemption available on low incomes — subsidised places exist from age one, and the final kindergarten year before school is compulsory (and free) across Austria. For families used to London or Zurich nursery pricing, this is one of the quiet financial arguments for Vienna, alongside those made on the why Austria page. Note that each child needs a residence title of their own, normally a Red-White-Red Card plus applied for alongside the parent's while the child is unmarried and under 18 — the mechanics are described under family reunification. Children are usually co-insured at no cost through a parent's Austrian health insurance.