Sub auspiciis Praesidentis

In Austria, the highest possible honor for achievement is the promotio sub auspiciis (prasidentis rei publicae). In this ceremony, the head of Austria honors the country's best students with a gold ring, engraved with the words "sub auspiciis praesidentis" and the emblem of Austria.

The history of the promotio sub auspiciis goes back to the 17th century, when the best philosophy students at the University in Vienna were invited to the Palace of the Holy Roman Emperor to receive gold medallions embossed with the Emperor's profile. This was a reward for their excellent achievements for their country.

In the following centuries, until the abolishment of the monarchy in 1918, this tradition became widespread and was coined "promotio sub imperatoris" (under the eye of the Emperor of Austria) for Universities in the Austrian part or "promotio sub regis" (under the eye of the King of Hungary) for universities in the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

After World War II, beginning in 1952, the term "sub auspiciis" was reintroduced with the addition of "praesidentis rei publicae" (under the eye of the President of the Republic).

In order to qualify for this honor, an individual must be perceived to possess exemplary moral character and succeed in passing all requirements for a doctorate within a given time scale, and with the highest possible grades.

In order to achieve the promotio sub auspiciis, one has to acquire "passed with distinction" already at high school: each year of high school, as well as the final exam Matura, have to be "passed with distinction".

High school lasts four to five years (depending on the type of school), including both prescriptive and elective subjects. These subjects are individually graded as either

To get "passed with distinction", all subjects must, on average, have received grades 1.5 or better.

Finally, high school ends with the Matura, a formalized summative assessment which is graded as follows:

In Austria a diploma curriculum is divided into several (usually two or three) parts. All parts end with diploma examinations. In order to make it possible to get the promotio sub auspiciis each grade in each of these diplomas has to be best possible (which usually is the grade 1). Moreover, the degree has to be completed within the average studying time.

The requirements are the same for bachelor's and master's degrees: all grades have to be best possible.

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Wikipedia