University for Continuing Education Krems

The University for Continuing Education Krems is a public university in Krems an der Donau, in the Wachau region along the Danube in Lower Austria. The Austrian ministry calls it Danube University Krems in English. It specialises in further education for working professionals, and that focus shapes everything about it.

The institution began operating in 1995, when its first 93 students enrolled in programmes in European Studies and journalism. In 2004 the Austrian parliament passed the Danube University Act, granting it the rights of a full university, such as appointing its own professors. In 2019 it was fully incorporated as a public university into the Universities Act 2002, and its own act ceased to be in force. Its specialisation in postgraduate university programmes stayed the same. More than 32,000 students have graduated from it.

Students are older than at most Austrian institutions: more than 7,500 study there, with an average age of 39, from over 100 countries. 26 percent come from abroad. The campus sits in the Wachau, and Dietmar Feichtinger designed the new buildings.

The national register lists 14 programmes of all kinds and languages, 5 of them English-taught: 1 Master's degree and 4 PhD or doctorate programmes. The subjects recorded are Curriculum and Instruction, and Social Sciences and Psychology.

For an international student, the practical points are these. You apply directly to the university. Students from outside the EU and EEA need a Residence Permit for Students. At public universities, EU, EEA and Swiss students pay no tuition within the standard duration of study plus two semesters, while most other students pay a per-semester fee. Every student also pays the student union fee.