For 1,850 places – nearly 12,000 candidates in the medical admission test

Of the originally exactly 15,788 people who had applied, a total of 11,643 interested parties participated in the joint admission process on Friday. There were almost 6,000 people at MedUni Vienna, just over 2,000 people in Innsbruck, almost exactly 2,000 at MedUni Graz and about 1,000 in Upper Austria.

Less audience than last year
Compared to the peak in 2021 with about 18,000 applications, the rush has decreased again. This is mainly due to the decline in enrollments from other EU countries, Anita Rieder, Vice Rector for Education at MedUni Vienna, said at a press conference on Friday. The reasons for this are diverse and not clearly identifiable. However, according to Rieder, the trend towards increasing interest in studying medicine is still visible.

Slightly greater chance of a place at university
As every year, most applicants were registered in Vienna: 71 percent of them have an Austrian high school diploma and 63 percent are women. All in all, the chances of a place at university this year are slightly better than in the past two years. Of the extra places, 70 are in Linz, 20 in Vienna and ten in Graz and Innsbruck.

A total of 760 places are offered for medicine and dentistry at the Medical University of Vienna, 410 at the Medical University of Innsbruck, 370 at the Medical University of Graz and 310 in Linz.

Exam lasts all day
The admission process takes approximately eight hours, including a lunch break. The preschool knowledge of biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics, reading and text comprehension and cognitive skills are tested.

From follow-up studies, we know that many would take the test multiple times. About every second person follows a preparation course for this, Rieder reports. However, the often criticized expensive courses are not a prerequisite for success. “Everyone has the same opportunities,” emphasized Rieder.

Hope for more doctors
Given the impending shortage of general practitioners, especially in rural areas, MedUni Innsbruck takes its responsibility seriously, said Wolfgang Prodinger, Vice Rector Education and Student Affairs at the press conference on Friday.

From the winter semester 2022/23, an additional course in family medicine will be offered to “offer medical students the opportunity to get to know the principles, processes and fields in the field of primary care in practice at an early stage. and during their studies”.

Need more study places
The Austrian National Union of Students (ÖH) is traditionally dissatisfied with the discrepancy between available study places and interested parties. This would discourage many motivated young people from their choice of study. “We are clearly against any access restrictions,” President Keya Baier said in a broadcast. The Ministry of Education is obliged to “actively combat social selection”.

The SPÖ argued for a doubling of the medical study places. “The whole of Austria has long been feeling the first effects of the impending shortage of doctors. Year after year, there seem to be plenty of young people who dream of saving lives. We also need to give them the opportunity to make their dream come true,” SPÖ health spokesman Philip Kucher said in a statement.

Medical Association sees a lack of prospects
For the Medical Association (ÖAK), however, this is an “abstractive proposal”: “This shows once again that politicians still have not understood what the fight against the looming shortage of doctors is really all about. First of all, we must ensure that we can retain by all means those who are now being trained in Austria,” Vice President Harald Mayer said in a broadcast.

There are plenty of graduates – but they would move their profession elsewhere because of a lack of training places after graduation, shortcomings in the quality of training, outdated working time models or because of better pay and career opportunities abroad.