VGUH prepares up to 600 students from approximately 60 countries for studies in Austria in Graz
On 22 October 1963 the University Preparation Programme of the Graz Universities / Higher Education Institutions (VGUH for short) started with 22 students – all of them men. Since the start of the VGUH Austria’s Education and Internationalisation Agency OeAD (and its predecessor organisation "Austrian Foreign Students Service") has been entrusted with the organisation of the course. Since then tens of thousands of students who had been admitted to study by an Austrian university have been prepared for supplementary examinations. Now the VGUH prepares between 500 and 600 students from around 60 countries for studies in Austria each semester. This includes e.g. the necessary German language skills, which the VGUH imparts. Depending on which supplementary examinations universities and universities of applied sciences prescribe as well as on their knowledge of German, the students spend one to four semesters at the VGUH.
At the beginning there is the language
The largest group are currently Ukrainian students (116 persons), such as Anna T. She has been studying at the Medical University of Graz for a year. Before that she attended German language courses at the VGUH and also studied mathematics and biology there. Only after passing supplementary examinations in German and other subjects was she allowed to start her studies as a regular degree-programme student. This opened the door to a new world for Anna T., as it did for many others before and after her.
60th anniversary celebration: 29 September 2023
The 60th anniversary will be celebrated with a festive ceremony on 29 September 2023, starting at 11 a.m. on the premises of the VGUH in Neubaugasse 10 in Graz. The musicians Irina Karamarkovic and Jean-Baptiste Rousseaux, who had attended the University Preparation Programme themselves, will accompany the celebration with their music. Prominent graduates include, for example, Fred Ohenhen, Fiston Mwanza Mujila, who was a writer in Graz in 2009, or Alonso Jimenez-Arbolda, honorary consul of the Republic of Colombia for Styria.
The OeAD invites press representatives to the ceremony. Please send your registration, which will be binding, to eveline.schwarz@vguh.at.
The head of the VGUH, Ms Schwarz, will also be happy to talk to you in advance or, if you wish, arrange interviews with former or current participants:
+ 43 316 831496 13 / +43 650 3554900