Medicine entrance test: 11,735 sat

2023-07-07 15:09:00

The test, which determines who gets one of the 1,850 study places, was accompanied this year by the demand for more study places. The Innsbruck vice rector, on the other hand, “would be happy” with a quota for German “numerus clausus refugees” in medicine and dentistry.

During the eight-hour written exam, the participants try to get one of the 1,850 places at the medical universities of Vienna (760 places), Innsbruck (410) and Graz (370) or at the University of Linz (310). Around half of the participants came from the MedUni in the federal capital (5,851), 2,334 from Innsbruck, 2,033 from Graz and 1,517 from the Johannes Keppler University in Linz, which used the Wels trade fair as the venue.

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Social skills were also tested

This year, there is a new area for applicants that is designed to test their social skills. For example, the candidates must solve a “social dilemma”, recognize and react to emotions and show correct answers that they are able to calm “restless patients”. “The MedAT is one of the few tests in German-speaking countries that takes this component into account,” emphasized Vienna’s Vice Rector for Teaching, Anita Rieder, at a press conference in the Vienna Exhibition Center, where MedUni Vienna is holding the test.

In Innsbruck, the entrance tests for prospective medical students began on Friday morning in the exhibition hall. Before the start of the test, the Med University Vice Rector for Teaching and Student Affairs, Wolfgang Prodinger, spoke in favor of a “doctor quota” both in human and also in dentistry. A majority of Austrian medical graduates must (continue to) be ensured. At the same time, however, he was skeptical that “changes” could be implemented with “numerus clausus refugees”. Ultimately, it also remains “a political decision”. At the same time, however, Prodinger defended the medical students from Germany: “They have also done Austria good.”

15,400 candidates for 1,850 places in the medical entrance test

VIENNA. 15,400 people, a little fewer than last year, are allowed to take the entrance test for medical studies on Friday this year.

15,400 candidates for 1,850 places in the medical entrance test

In human medicine, at least 95 percent of the places at all universities go to candidates from the EU and at least 75 percent to applicants with an Austrian Matura certificate. In dentistry, on the other hand, places are awarded to the applicants with the best test results, regardless of nationality.

The current medical access regulation was questioned by the Lower Austrian governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP), who advocated putting a stop to the “numerus clausus refugees”. She received support from an expert opinion by the Innsbruck European law expert Walter Obwexer, who was of the opinion that Austria could apply the admission restrictions of the respective home country for foreign medical students. A little later, European law colleague Peter Hilpold had a different opinion in the APA interview. Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP), on the other hand, remained cautious on this issue. The Mikl Leitner initiative is currently being examined “very intensively”. Polaschek set up its own working group with experts from European and constitutional law to determine the extent to which the EU Commission should be approached on the basis of the expertise.

“You don’t win motivated employees with coercion”

Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) responded on Friday afternoon on Twitter: “Creating more medical study places or reducing the number of foreign students would not do much. Compulsory medical students will not help us either. You don’t win motivated employees with coercion: Inside.”

Rieder, on the other hand, emphasized that – to the day – 18 years ago the European Court of Justice ruled that applicants from the EU must be given the opportunity to study – but also vice versa. Of the 7,500 registrations in Vienna this year, 1,830 did not have an Austrian Matura certificate. At 1,400, the majority of them came from Germany. Similarly in Innsbruck, where 1,333 of the 1,448 applications from EU countries were from Germany.

There is no shortage of doctors across Austria in Vienna. Rather, it is a regional and partly also a national distribution problem for the doctors who have been newly trained in recent years. Problem areas include poor pay, “migration into lucrative and only partially relevant private medicine” and the international competition for young doctors.

Even the demand for more study places cannot be accepted. With the number of graduates, Austria is among the international leaders and, in relation to the number of inhabitants, trains significantly more people than comparable countries. In any case, by 2028 there will be a gradual expansion to 2,000 study places throughout Austria. This number is still possible without the quality standards having to suffer.

SPÖ demands doubling of the places

The SPÖ, meanwhile, calls for the number of places to study medicine to be doubled. In order to counteract the lack of panel doctors, the SPÖ proposes giving preference to those through grants or bonus systems who agree to be available to the public health system for a certain period of time. “It’s crashing in more and more nooks and crannies. There are no doctors, waiting times are getting longer – unless you pay privately. Year after year it shows that there are enough young people whose dream it would be to save lives. We should give them also give the chance to fulfill their dream,” emphasized club chairman Philip Kucher to APA. The chairwoman of the ÖH at the MedUni, Carolin Vollbrecht, is critical of the proposal to double the number of study places within a “short period of time”, as quality standards would suffer as a result.

“More study places” is also the annual demand of the Austrian Students’ Union (ÖH). For many applicants, the strict admissions process leads to great mental stress and increased competition among themselves. In addition, the currently available university places would not be sufficient to compensate for the “chronic shortage of doctors”, the ÖH chair team criticized in a broadcast. Another problem is that the admissions process often involves expensive preparatory courses. “This type of social selection means that education is still strongly inherited, especially in the medical field,” criticized Nina Mathies (VSSTÖ) from the presidency team.

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