Vienna Bilingual Schooling (VBS)
Launched as an experimental educational form nearly 20 years ago, Vienna Bilingual Schooling (VBS) provides bilingual education in English and German from primary school through to the final exam (Matura) at the end of secondary school. Children are taught the official Austrian school curriculum by German- and English-speaking teachers. Prior knowledge of the second language is required.
VBS in its current form will end in 2024/2025. The new format of bilingual education and its financing are still under discussion. For more details, contact the Vienna Educational Board (Bildungsdirektion Wien).
Other language initiatives
Vienna offers numerous other initiatives encouraging children to learn either their mother tongue or promoting the early acquisition of English, French, Spanish, Italian, Czech, Slovak and Hungarian.