As a partner to Austrian universities in their internationalisation efforts, the OeAD promotes the international orientation of their profiles and outreach activities. Its overarching goal of positioning Austria internationally as an attractive location for higher education, research and science includes the administration of scholarship and funding programmes at national, European and international level, representing Austria as a leading location for research and science, and promoting the numerous study, teaching, research and cooperation opportunities worldwide.

OeAD goals:

• Increasing the attractiveness of Austria as a location for higher education and science
• Strengthening Austria's position as a higher education location on the international higher education market and consolidating its image as an innovative provider of high-quality and internationally oriented study opportunities
• Promoting scientific excellence and international networking by recruiting excellent young international scientists for research stays in Austria

OeAD activities:

• Representing the Austrian higher education landscape at international higher education fairs and conferences in Europe, Africa, Asia/Australia and North America
• Global presentation of all Austrian higher education institutions and the diversity of their study programmes through webinars and other events.
• Support for higher education institutions in developing and expanding international networks and collaborations.
• Provision of comprehensive information on the entire spectrum of study opportunities in all higher education sectors.
• Evaluation of initiatives by the Austrian higher education location monitoring group ("Begleitgruppe Hochschulstandort Österreich").

In the 2023/24 academic year, a total of 387,993 people studied at an Austrian higher education institution, the vast majority of them at one of the 23 public universities, followed by universities of applied sciences, whose students accounted for 15 per cent, teacher training colleges with seven per cent, and private universities and colleges with six per cent.

International students accounted for around 30 per cent of all students in Austria. Of these, 27 per cent came from non-EU countries. At Austrian art universities, the proportion of international students is particularly high at 49 per cent.

Austrian higher education institutions are not only particularly diverse in terms of their disciplines and fields of study, but also in terms of their institutional forms and geographical locations. There are currently 77 higher education institutions in Austria. The largest proportion of these are universities – both public and private – numbering 42 in total. The 23 public universities include six art universities, three technical universities and three medical universities. In addition, Austria's 21 universities of applied sciences offer their students a decidedly practice-oriented education. Finally, the list of Austrian higher education institutions is rounded off by 14 teacher training colleges, which offer high-quality training for Austria's future primary and secondary school teachers.