Strategy support in internationalisation

National strategies for internationalisation in higher education and research

One of the OeAD's main tasks is to support Austrian higher education institutions and research institutions in developing high-quality internationalisation measures that have a lasting impact. This is done by means of offers and initiatives in the areas of scholarships, funding, national and European programmes as well as numerous activities for advising and connecting stakeholders.

The central national strategy documents that guide both the Austrian higher education institutions’ and the OeAD’s internationalisation activities are the

HMIS 2030

The Higher Education Mobility and Internationalisation Strategy (HMIS2030), published in 2020 and subtitled ‘There are many routes to internationalisation’, aims at a holistic approach to the internationalisation of teaching and learning, which, besides mobility, also includes internationalisation at home, and which permeates all levels and areas of higher education institutions. The HMIS2030 covers all four higher education sectors – public universities, universities of applied sciences, private universities and university colleges of teacher education.

The strategy addresses all levels and structures of higher education institutions and thus everybody studying or working at higher education institutions. It addresses students, lecturers and researchers, the management and also the non-academic staff, who have so far been less in the focus of internationalisation and international activities.

To make the Austrian higher education institutions’ activities in the implementation of the strategy visible the OeAD has set up the HMIS2030 platform where institutions can present their examples of good practice.

RTI Strategy 2030

Research, technology and innovation (RTI) are at the centre of an Austrian higher education and research policy that is future-oriented and competition- and innovation-friendly. Austria has seen dynamic development as a location for innovation in recent years.

On 23 December 2020 the Austrian Federal Government adopted the RTI Strategy 2030. It defines the key objectives and fields of action for the RTI policy up to 2030. The goals are:

to catch up with the international leaders and strengthen Austria as an RTI location;
to focus on effectiveness and excellence;
to build on knowledge, talent and skills.

Several fields of action within the three objectives are implemented by the OeAD in close cooperation with higher education institutions. These include mainly:

promoting internationalisation and aligning it strategically (field of action from objective 1, supported by the OeAD through the organisation of networking and other events as well as through strategic measures to position Austria as an attractive country for higher education and science);
Supporting international perspectives of researchers and students (field of action from objective 3, supported by the OeAD through the provision of support for funding programmes and the management of scholarships)

The fields of action are interrelated and work together. Individual fields of action therefore also contribute to the achievement of more than one objective. The objectives and fields of action of the RTI strategy are operationalised through three-year RTI pacts.

Collaboration with stakeholders

As an agency of the Republic of Austria the OeAD contributes to inclusive, equal and high-quality education on behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF). Our tasks are connected to the Austrian Federal Government’s content and strategic goals. Numerous stakeholders provide targeted support for the internationalisation agenda – by directly financing scholarship programmes, funding and initiatives, or by participating in committees and through continuous thematic cooperation. These include

the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, which, among other things, acts as a funding agency in all areas of education, in research cooperation and as a partner in setting thematic priorities, in projects and initiatives,
the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, which e.g. funds the APPEAR programme (via the Austrian Development Agency) and is a partner in the Austrian higher education marketing;
the Austrian Federal Chancellery, which funds study places at the College of Europe;
the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, which collaborates in Austrian education cooperation and acts as a partner in positioning Austria as an attractive country for higher education and research;
the representative organisations of the Austrian public universities (universities austria), private universities (ÖPUK), universities of applied sciences (FHK) and university colleges of teacher education (RÖPH);
AQ Austria and WUS Austria in project cooperation,
the European Commission as the central funding body for the European education programmes Erasmus+ and ESC;
European and international partners in higher education cooperation (EUA, IAU, ESU, ESN), as well as
the Academic Cooperation Association (ACA), of which the OeAD has been a member since the ACA’s foundation.