One week after the start of the school year in eastern Austria, schools have reopened in Carinthia, Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol and Vorarlberg on Monday.

For 656,000 children and young people, this marks the end of their holiday or kindergarten period, with around 55,500 primary school newcomers starting their very first day. The new school year will run until June 27 next year in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland, and until July 4 in the other federal states.

This school year brings significant changes, particularly for final-year students at AHS (general secondary schools) and pupils at vocational middle schools (BMS). At BMS, final theses have been completely abolished, while at AHS, the requirement to write a pre-scientific paper has been removed.

Instead, students will complete an “End-of-Course Project,” which can take the form of a multimedia product, video report or podcast. Alternatively, students may opt to take an additional oral or written final exam until the 2028/29 academic year.