Bildungsministerium, Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur

Following information as of March 2003!
Consult other sources for possible changes after this date, please.

Education, Science and Culture, Federal Ministry of (in Austria referred to as "Bildungsministerium", full name: Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur), formed in the year 2000 by the merger of the Federal Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs (Ministry for Education) and the Science division of the Federal Ministry of Science and Transport (Ministry of Science). It has ten divisions, which deal with the following matters: schools, including their establishment, maintenance and closure, teacher training and further training; nurseries, kindergartens and after-school childcare facilities, scientific collections and institutions, protection of monuments, religious affairs, adult education, educational films and documentaries; coordination of federal research projects, matters affecting scientific teaching and research, in particular at the art schools and universities as well as other academic and research institutions including the Austrian Academy of Sciences, theoretical and vocational training and further training, research libraries (Austrian National Library) and documentation and information activities, student representation, grants and scholarships, and promoting student hostel construction. The Ministry also incorporates the Kultusamt, which is in charge of relations between the Republic of Austria and the various churches and religious communities.

The Ministry of Education supervises the following institutions and activities: provincial (länder) and district school councils, the Pädagogische Akademie (teacher training college), federal general and vocational secondary schools, Federal Museums and Hofmusikkapelle, 12 universities and 6 art schools with university status, courses at (Fachhochschulen), the student grants and scholarships authority, the psychological counselling service for students, the University Centre for Further Education, the Donau-Universität Krems, the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the Geologische Bundesanstalt, the Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik, the Arsenal Federal Research and Testing Centre, the Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, and the Österreichisches Archäologisches Institut.

The Ministry also maintains advisory services administered by the School Reform Commission and its departments, the Youth Film Commission and the Commission for Children's and Young People's Literature.

The Education Ministry is located in what was formerly Starhemberg Palace on Minoritenplatz, in Vienna's 1st district.