The OeAD – Austria’s Agency for Education and Internationalisation was founded in 1961 by the Rectors' Conference and the Austrian Students’ Union (ÖH) as an association named “ÖAD – Austrian Foreign Students Service”. It was renamed “Austrian Academic Exchange Service” in 1990 and “Austrian Exchange Service – Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research” in 2000. In 2021 the name was changed to “OeAD – Austria’s Agency for Education and Internationalisation”.
Until 2008 the OeAD was an association. On 1 January 2009 the OeAD-GmbH was established by the “OeAD-Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung Establishment Act” (in short: OeAD Act) (Federal Law Gazette I No. 99/2008).
The OeAD is 100 per cent owned by the Republic of Austria. The owner representative is the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research.
Legal information system of the Austrian Federal Government: https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=20005873
Tasks: The OeAD’s purpose is the implementation of national, European and international cooperation measures in science and research as well as measures in fostering of the arts, higher education, school education, and education and training.
The OeAD-GmbH shall in particular fulfil the following tasks (§ 1 para. 1):
1. implement national, European and international education, training, framework, science and mobility programmes as well as internationalisation measures,
2. support and advise the federal government
3. provide information for and advise institutions, in particular educational institutions as well as Austrian representative authorities, on the entire range of services offered by the OeAD-GmbH,
4. provide mobility-relevant services for national, European and international cooperation,
5. present Austria as an attractive country for cooperation,
6. public relations activities,
7. implement cooperation measures within development cooperation programmes, in particular on behalf of the Austrian Federal Government,
8. represent Austrian interests vis-à-vis the relevant European and international institutions on behalf of the Austrian Federal Government,
9. provide information on and raise public awareness of the importance and role of national, European and international cooperation,
10. administrative and organisational support of university courses preparing students for supplementary examinations (University Preparation Programmes),
11. support national bodies for international networks and for European networks and transparency tools,
12. participate in shaping school education,
13. evaluate the achievements and analyse the systemic effects of cooperation programmes,
14. further education measures in the area of cooperation,
15. establish and run a central mobility and cooperation database according to § 10a as well as
16. take over, implement and further develop the programme of _erinnern.at_ as a programme for teaching and learning about National Socialism and the Holocaust.
