ATRACK: Career entry and career paths of university graduates

The current data of the graduate tracking (ATRACK) show that graduates of universities and universities of applied sciences succeed very well in starting their careers. They find a job quickly after graduation. With their knowledge at the cutting edge of research, they strengthen the Austrian labour market in all economic and social areas. Unemployment with a tertiary degree is low. Part-time work is also becoming more common among academics. The income development in the first 10 years is promising. The gender pay gap also exists among graduates.

With the Factsheets 2023, each participating higher education institution receives core information for each study programme on labour market status and integration, including the proportion of part-time or full-time employment, the industry affiliation of the employing companies and the income development, including the gender pay gap. A new feature of graduate tracking in 2023 is the extension of the observation period from 5 to 10 years after graduation and the adjustment of the comparison group to include all higher education graduates. The factsheets of the graduate tracking are used in the study information and career service for individual counselling of prospective students, students and graduates, as a basis for higher education steering decisions and for the further development of the curricula. 

Statistics Austria publishes Austria-wide results for graduates of the academic years 2008/09 to 2020/21 who did not take up further studies after graduation. The publication of job entries and career paths of graduates of the universities participating in ATRACK is at the discretion of the respective university or university of applied sciences. 

On the Graduate Tracking Consortium: Since 2017, the public universities have formed the ATRACK consortium under the leadership of the University of Vienna, in which 13 universities of applied sciences have also participated since 2022. In university autonomy, the career entry and career paths of graduates in the Austrian labour market are analysed comparatively. 

The data is compiled by Statistics Austria from various registers and presented in aggregated form in factsheets. This is done for all bachelor's, master's, diploma, doctoral and continuing education studies as well as ISCED groups of studies from all 34 participating higher education institutions. The data are processed and presented in such a way that it is not possible to draw conclusions about individuals.

Austria also participates in the "European Graduate Tracking Initiative" in order to obtain information on the career entries of graduates in other EU countries in the future.