Chapter 7: Students’ Identity Formation: Becoming Alumni

Each year about 20% of all Austrian high school graduates decide to continue their academic career by pursuing studies on one of the 38 Universities in the very same country (Statistik Austria, 2020). By doing so they commit to an important life-course decision and outline their possible path for the following years. The absence of the U.S.-like college studies with a wide range of possibilities and general education profile adds difficulty to the already complicated decision-making process for future pupils of European universities. Universities across the United States offer the possibility of curricula containing individually chosen subjects that correspond with the interest of the particular student and thus make it possible for them to obtain a more general type of higher education on the bachelor level. The system is set differently in Europe—future students need to select a subject or direction of studies and apply directly to their institution and faculty of choice. Yet anyhow, the time spent as a university student is first pleasantly viewed and an important step in the life-course development, during which most young adults have the opportunity to explore their interests, take actions, responsibility and shape their personality once more.