With the founding of the Österreich Institut GmbH in 1997, which is wholly owned by the federal government, and the establishment of branch offices abroad, Austria’s international cultural policy sent a signal of its interest in language issues in Europe. Since then, the Österreich Institute has been conducting the Austria-related German courses, which had previously been run by the Austrian Cultural Institutes, at various European locations in private law. The Austrian Institute Act (Federal Law Gazette No. 177/1996) defines the task of the Österreichische Institute as “fostering cultural relations abroad, in particular through the medium of the German language”. The Österreich Institut is located in Belgrade, Bratislava, Brno, Budapest, Krakow, Moscow, Rome, Sarajevo, Warsaw and Wrocław. Since its foundation, the number of course participants has increased from about 4,500 to about 11,000 annually.
The company is self-financing to more than 80% and thus relieves the public sector. The company achieves this result, which is remarkable in international comparison, with particularly high-quality German courses and the development of new language course formats. Its successful efforts to achieve quality in German teaching prompted the European Union to award the Institute the “European Seal of Quality for Innovative Language Projects” in 2002. In order to maintain the high level of quality, the language course offerings are regularly evaluated and new offerings are constantly being developed. A continuous further training programme for the 120 language teachers is in place.
Since 1998, the Institute has published the quarterly “Österreich Spiegel. Die Zeitung für den Deutschunterricht” every quarter. Motto: “Read what you read in Austria. Hear what you hear in Austria. Be there in the media.” The Österreich Spiegel has been published since 2015 in cooperation with the Austrian Integration Fund and is aimed at German learners at home and abroad. The teaching materials of the “Austria Portal”, which has existed since 2001, were revised in 2015 in cooperation with the ÖIF and are now online at www.sprachportal.at. In addition, materials for specialized language instruction are continually being developed, such as “German for Lawyers”, “Business German”, and “German for Health and Nursing Professions. Further information can be found in the annual reports.
The administration of the share rights for the Federation is carried out by Section Management V, representation on the Supervisory Board by Section Management V.3.
www.oesterreichinstitut.at
www.oesterreichinstitut.at/lernmaterialien/oesterreich-spiegel/
www.oesterreichinstitut.at/ueber-uns/
www.sprachportal.at
