Austria’s leading universities lag behind their counterparts in funding per student. This has limited the country’s ability to sufficiently equip its public universities with suitable infrastructure and human resources, particularly PhDs involved in basic research. But to narrow the gap to the international frontier will require not only a higher share of competitive funding, but also further improvements to the governance and strategic capabilities of universities and other research organisations. Compared to leading innovators, Austria’s universities lag in major international rankings, undermining their ability to attract talented domestic and foreign students and researchers.