Although there is a tendency towards higher qualification in Austria, only a third of Austrians are achieving a higher level of education than their parents. This is indicated by a current study of the Statistik Austria.

Trend towards formal higher qualifications

The last decade has shown a clear trend of young people towards formal higher qualifications. Almost one third (30%) of those aged between 15 and 34 who are no longer in education achieved a higher formal educational degree than their parents (educational upgrade), with around half (53%) achieving a formal educational degree of the same value (educational inheritance).

Women in particular catch up in generation comparison

Compared with the formal educational situation of their parents, the situation of today's 15 to 34year olds has clearly improved with young women catching up in particular. In the parents' generation, women are markedly less qualified than men. Around 40% of the mothers of the current 15-34 year olds only completed compulsory education while this was just a quarter (24%) with the fathers. When compared with their mothers, only 15% of women were achieving school qualifications no higher than compulsory schooling, although there are still more instances of this than with men (11%) of the same age.

Upgrade still problematic

In the parents' generation, 16% of the men and 14% of the women completed higher education or university education. Within a generation, this gender ratio has been reversed. Both young men and women completed the Matura (school leaving examination) more frequently than their parents, but the daughters (34%) completed higher education or university education more often than the sons (27%). 5% of the children of compulsory school graduates completed a university degree compared with 41% of the children from academic parents.

Social selectivity

The educational path pursued by young adults or the educational degree achieved is still closely linked with the educational background of their parents and is thus socially selective. The higher the formal educational degree of the parents, the higher the probability that the children will go on to higher education or university. If the young adults come from families whose parents only completed compulsory schooling, just under 5% of them achieve an academic degree, while this was 41% in young adults with an academic background (total average of 12%). Conversely, when their parents have obtained a lower level of formal education, there is a higher probability of children also only achieving a lower level. Just under a third of the children whose parents only completed compulsory education also go no further with their education or training.

Migrants have significantly worse prospects

If migration background is taken into account, we can see that primarily among young people whose parents only obtained compulsory school qualifications, the educational prospects of those with migration backgrounds are clearly worse than those from non-immigrant families.

Children of academics become academics

Even when several factors that influence the educational path are simultaneously considered – gender, migration background, highest level of education of the parents and population density – the result is that the higher the parents' education, the higher the child's level of education. For example, children from homes in which the parents have only completed compulsory education are approximately 13 times less likely to graduate from university than children of academic parents.

Risk of poverty

People only obtaining compulsory school qualifications show a high risk of poverty lying above average with 22%, whereas those with university degrees are below average (6%). Generally, it can be said that regardless of the educational level, women are more at risk of poverty.