Austria has a free and public school system, and nine years of education are mandatory. Schools offer a series of vocational- technical and university preparatory tracks involving one to three additional years of education beyond the minimum mandatory level. The legal basis for primary and secondary education in Austria is the School Law of 1962. The federal Ministry for Education is responsible for funding and supervising primary and secondary education, which is administered on the provincial level by the authorities of the respective provinces.

Private schools that offer primary and secondary education and some teacher training are run mainly by the Roman Catholic Church and account for around 11 % of the 6,700 schools and 121,000 teachers. Roman Catholic schools have a reputation for more discipline and hardness than public institutions, and some are considered elite institutions. Because there is no tradition of private university education in Austria, the state has a virtual monopoly on higher education.

The basis of the Austrian educational system is the national law that requires school attendance for all youths between the ages of 6 and 15. Austria’s long tradition of free education dates from the Educational Reform Act of 1774, instituted by Empress Maria Theresa. This law, which was expanded in 1867 and again in 1962, largely accounts for the fact that virtually all of the adult population is able to read and write.