Educational Leave for Your Degree: How to Use the Time Off Right

Educational leave (Bildungskarenz) for studying no longer exists. The Austrian model expired on 31.03.2025, since 01.04.2025 the AMS (Austrian Public Employment Service) has accepted no new applications, and since 2026 the stricter Weiterbildungszeit applies as its successor. The rules currently in force are set out in the post Austria's New Weiterbildungszeit From 2026.

This article still has a purpose. Educational leave was for years the best-known funding model for studying alongside a job, and many people still plan with figures and processes they remember from that period. To judge what the successor changes, you need to know how the old model worked. That is what I set out here.

Anyone budgeting in 2026 with Bildungskarenz conditions is planning around a model that no longer exists.

What Educational Leave Was

Bildungskarenz was an agreement between you and your employer. You were released from work for 2 to 12 months. During that time you received a continuing education allowance (Weiterbildungsgeld) from the AMS, equal to the unemployment benefit you would have been entitled to, and your job was kept for you.

It could also be taken in parts, for example 3 months in one semester and 3 months in the next. Within a 4-year period you were entitled to a total of 12 months. It was exactly this combination of release, replacement income and a right to return that made the model so popular, and it is exactly that combination against which everyone now measures the successor.

Requirements for Educational Leave

Not everyone could apply. The requirements were clear:

• 6 months of continuous employment with your current employer (3 months for fixed-term contracts)
• Consent from your employer, because there was no legal entitlement
• At least 20 hours per week of verifiable continuing education
• The educational measure had to be professionally relevant or a degree at a recognised university

The 20-hours-per-week point was the decisive one. The AMS checked it, and for that you needed a confirmation from your university about the weekly workload. Distance learning programmes with sufficient ECTS volume usually met the requirement without any problem.

Continuing Education Allowance: How Much It Paid

The allowance corresponded to the notional unemployment benefit, so typically around 55 percent of your last net income. The minimum was around 14.53 euros per day (as of 2024), paid monthly by the AMS. Marginal side earnings were permitted, with the threshold at 518.44 euros per month in 2024.

These figures are historical. They describe the position up to 2025 and are expressly not a basis for planning today.

Bildungskarenz, Bildungsteilzeit, Bildungsurlaub: What Gets Confused Constantly

Three terms sound similar but mean three different things, and in consultations they run together almost every time. Two of them are Austrian, one is German.

Bildungsteilzeit was the part-time variant of educational leave: you reduced your working hours by 25 to 50 percent and received an educational part-time allowance from the AMS for the difference. The model ran for 4 months to 2 years. The advantage was that you stayed active in your job, the drawback the higher coordination effort, because the change in hours had to be agreed precisely. It also expired on 31.03.2025.

Bildungsurlaub, by contrast, has nothing to do with either. It is German state law, applies differently depending on the federal state, and covers a few paid days of release per year. It replaces no career break and pays no replacement income.

Which rules apply in which German state is set out under educational leave in Germany. If you are studying in Austria, the general framework is covered in distance learning in Austria.

What Applies Since 2026

On the successor I deliberately say only what is necessary, because it has its own post and because with a model this young every second-hand figure is a risk. Three points you can hold on to:

• The Weiterbildungszeit is stricter than Bildungskarenz. It is not the same model under a new name, and anyone expecting the old conditions is planning wrong.
• Only the AMS is binding. Which requirements apply in your case, which evidence is demanded and which amounts are current at the time of your application is something your local office tells you. No blog post, including this one, replaces that answer.
• A running old agreement is its own case. Whether and how a Bildungskarenz agreed before the cut-off date continues is something you clarify directly with the AMS and your employer, not through a rule of thumb from the internet.

The current rules are set out in Austria's New Weiterbildungszeit From 2026.

What Carries Over From the Bildungskarenz Years

The conditions are gone, the method is not. Four points apply to any funding model that supports education alongside or instead of work, and they are exactly the four points on which Bildungskarenz applications used to fail most often:

• Applying too late. Public offices need lead time. For Bildungskarenz, 4 to 6 weeks before the start was the benchmark; anyone arriving two weeks ahead risked delays in payment.
• Forgetting the workload confirmation. Without a university confirmation of the learning workload, the application was rejected. Clarify early who at your university issues that document.
• Involving the employer too late. Nothing moved without their consent. How to structure that conversation is covered in getting your employer to pay for your degree.
• Choosing the wrong programme. Not every programme meets a funding body's criteria. You check that before enrolling, not afterwards.

How I Support Your Planning

What I can settle for you is the study side: which programme fits your goal, whether it meets the formal requirements of a funding body, how many hours per week it realistically takes, and what your professional experience can earn through credit transfer. Recognition shortens the programme and therefore also the period you have to bridge in the first place. The funding decision itself always rests with the AMS. In a free initial consultation I work through your case with you; what follows is set out in the consultation process.

Conclusion

Educational leave for studying was for years a powerful instrument for everyone working in Austria who wanted to pursue further education. It became history in 2025, the stricter Weiterbildungszeit took its place, and Bildungsteilzeit expired alongside it. If you are planning today, keep three things apart: the historical figures in this article, the current rules in the post on the Weiterbildungszeit, and the binding answer the AMS gives for your own case. The choice of programme itself, whether a full degree or a focused certificate through continuing education, you can settle independently, and the earlier you settle it, the more cleanly it fits a later funding application.