Educational Leave Abolished: Austria's New Weiterbildungszeit From 2026

If you work in Austria and want to free up time for a degree, the situation has changed fundamentally. Educational leave (Bildungskarenz), for years the main instrument for this, has been abolished. In its place, since the start of 2026, comes the Weiterbildungszeit (continuing education leave), and it is noticeably stricter. What the Weiterbildungszeit means for your studies, whether distance degrees and distance courses are funded, how to get the workload confirmation right, and which mix-up costs most applicants a round is what I explain in this post.

What Happened to Educational Leave

Austria's National Council abolished educational leave in March 2025. The old model expired on 31 March 2025, and from 1 April 2025 no new applications for the continuing education allowance could be submitted. Educational part-time work (Bildungsteilzeit) was discontinued at the same time. A reduced-hours variant now exists again under the name Weiterbildungsteilzeit, more on that below. The scheme is run by the AMS (the public employment service).

The background was cost and the criticism that the funding was too often used for career-unrelated time off. Anyone with an agreement concluded before the cut-off date enjoys transitional protection and could use the old rules to the end. For any new plans, however, the successor model applies.

The New Weiterbildungszeit From 2026: Stricter Rules

Since 1 January 2026 the Weiterbildungszeit has been in force, and the funded benefit is now called the continuing education allowance (Weiterbildungsbeihilfe). At its core the idea stays the same: leave for further education, financially supported through the AMS. The requirements, however, have been tightened noticeably.

One gap that caught a lot of people out has since closed: the law applied from 01.01.2026, but the AMS was only able to actually pay the continuing education allowance from 08.06.2026, because internal implementation and processes were still being settled. Anyone planning during those six months faced an entitlement that existed on paper and was not yet available in practice. The allowance has been running since then. For you that mainly means one thing: information and forum posts from the first half of 2026 reflect that interim state and are no longer current.

These are the most important changes compared with the old educational leave:

• 12 instead of 6 months of continuous employment with your current employer before you can take part.
• Educational counselling before you apply, mandatory if your contribution base is below half the maximum contribution base (2026: 3,465 euros gross per month). Above that, your employer covers 15 percent of the allowance.
• A minimum of 20 hours per week, or 20 ECTS per semester for a degree, reduced to 16 if you care for children up to age 7 and no longer childcare is available.

What stays: there is no legal entitlement. Your employer has to agree to the leave, exactly as before.

Weiterbildungsteilzeit: The New Educational Part-Time

Alongside the Weiterbildungszeit there is the Weiterbildungsteilzeit, the successor to the old Bildungsteilzeit. You reduce your working hours by 25 to 50 percent and keep working at least 10 hours per week. The training must average at least 10 hours per week, or 10 ECTS per semester for a degree, and lasts 4 months to 2 years. No educational counselling is required. For a part-time degree at an Austrian university this is often the more realistic option: by the same calculation as below, 10 ECTS come to around 15 hours of study per week.

Bildungskarenz and Weiterbildungszeit Side by Side

The table shows where the real break sits. Two of the three tightenings have nothing to do with your studies and everything to do with timing: the doubled prior employment and, depending on your income, the extra counselling appointment. Both push your start date back, and only early planning absorbs that.

20 Hours a Week or 20 ECTS: The Mix-Up That Costs Applications

This is where most misunderstandings begin. The minimum scope is stated in two units, and they measure different things depending on the type of provision:

• 20 hours per week is the yardstick for courses and training programmes that do not use ECTS.
• 20 ECTS per semester is the yardstick for a university degree.

The second misreading is the expensive one, and it cuts both ways. For a degree, workload counts, and that is what the ECTS express. I regularly hear the line "my distance programme barely has any dates, that surely will not be enough". For the ECTS confirmation that is not true: whether you study in a lecture hall or at your kitchen table does not change the ECTS you complete. For courses and training programmes it is the other way round: only hours in person or live online at fixed times count. The AMS does not count self-study time towards the 20 hours per week.

Run the numbers once to see what the requirement really means. One ECTS equals roughly 30 working hours, and a semester has about 20 active weeks:

• 20 ECTS come to around 600 hours per semester, so 30 hours per week.
• 16 ECTS with care responsibilities come to around 480 hours, so 24 hours per week.

That makes it clear why the leave belongs to the model instead of being a nice extra: 30 hours of study time is effectively a second full-time job. How this calculation carries over to other semester loads is covered in how many ECTS per semester fit alongside your job, and what it feels like day to day is in the post on the distance learning time commitment.

Bildungskarenz and Distance Learning: Are Distance Degrees and Distance Courses Funded?

The short answer: a distance degree can be funded during the Weiterbildungszeit, but according to the AMS website only with enrolment at an Austrian university. A pure self-study distance course usually cannot. What matters is the AMS federal guideline on the continuing education allowance, and it draws a clear line between a degree and a course.

For a degree, ECTS count. For higher education, the AMS requires at least 20 ECTS per semester or within six months. The ECTS you complete serve as proof, submitted every six months and at the end. The guideline does not set in-person hours for degree programmes. Where you study matters: the federal guideline speaks generally of tertiary education, while the AMS website states explicitly that degrees are only funded with enrolment at an Austrian university. If you study at a university of applied sciences, a private university or a university abroad, have the AMS confirm in writing before you apply that your programme is eligible. With a distance degree at a German or Swiss university, expect it not to be funded.

For courses and training programmes, only supervised hours count. The 20 hours per week must, on average, take place in person or as live online teaching at fixed times. For live online sessions the AMS receives an access link so it can check attendance. Explicitly excluded are courses run as pure online courses independent of time and place, even if trainers help now and then by email or forum. That is exactly how most classic distance courses work.

Some conditions apply to every format: the training lasts at least two months and must be usable beyond a single employer. If a course does not issue certificates of progress, you prove at least 75 percent attendance. And if the training takes place abroad, the AMS only funds it if an on-site check can be ensured.

What the Weiterbildungszeit Means for Your Studies

The educational counselling, if it is mandatory for you, moves the choice of programme to the front. Before you apply, you need to be able to show that your degree meets the criteria, for example the 20 ECTS per semester at a university the AMS accepts for this. Anyone who turns up unprepared loses a round. If you have already completed a master's or diploma degree, the AMS also requires four years of insured employment in Austria in total, including 12 continuous months with your current employer.

One point that many people get backwards: credit transfer does not reduce your semester load, it reduces the total number of modules. If a university recognises 40 ECTS from your work experience or prior education, your degree gets shorter. The 20 ECTS you have to take in a funded semester are untouched by that. Both are still worth doing: credit transfer for work experience shortens the overall duration, while the semester workload confirmation secures the funding. You can get a rough sense of what is transferable in your case with the credit check.

Whether a part-time master's or a compact continuing education format fits better depends on your goal and your time budget. For the Weiterbildungszeit, what matters is that the programme states the required scope per semester cleanly.

Before You Apply: What to Clarify Yourself

The 12-month hurdle makes timing the critical factor. An example: if you start a new job in March, you meet the prior employment requirement in March of the following year at the earliest. Ahead of that sit, where required, the counselling appointment, the choice of programme, the application and admission, realistically two to three months. So the earliest possible start of studies lands roughly 15 months after the job change, not 12. Anyone planning a change of employer and a period of Weiterbildungszeit together should sequence the two carefully.

These four points are best clarified in writing before you submit anything:

• With the AMS: which documents are required, which deadlines apply and which amounts apply in your case. You can apply no earlier than 12 weeks before the start, with a confirmation of registration or enrolment.
• In the educational counselling: whether your specific programme counts as further education under the rules. Whether you have to attend depends on your income.
• With the university: written confirmation of the ECTS per semester and the study plan. A brochure is usually not enough for the AMS.
• With your employer: consent, the exact period and the return arrangement, again in writing.

And the honest limit: the Weiterbildungszeit is not a right you simply claim. It depends on three yeses, your own, your employer's and the one from the AMS. If any of them is missing, the model does not carry, however well the programme fits.

The Weiterbildungszeit is more tightly defined than the old educational leave. Plan your studies early and cleanly, and it still works as a strong instrument.

If You Do Not Have the Right Programme Yet

This is exactly where I come in. I help you find a programme that meets the required scope, organise the workload confirmation from the university, and sequence prior employment, counselling appointment and admission so that nothing falls apart. In a free initial consultation I go through your starting point with you: the consultation process page explains how it works, and you can pick a slot under book an appointment.

Conclusion

The old educational leave is history; the Weiterbildungszeit is its stricter successor: longer prior employment, mandatory educational counselling for lower incomes and a clearly defined minimum of 20 ECTS per semester. Convert that requirement into hours once and the model makes sense: 30 hours of study time per week is not doable without leave. You can read how educational leave worked until 2025 in the post on educational leave for your degree, and more routes in Austria under distance learning in Austria and financing your studies.