Context
In 1995, Austria joined the European Union. Within the first accession year, the Vienna Board of Education was invited by the City of Vienna to prepare and implement a European co-funded cross-border project with institutions in neighbouring countries. This was uncharted territory for the Board, whose expertise lay primarily in managing schools and delivering education within Vienna. This first EU-funded project was called CERNET (Central European Regional Network for Education Transfer), and it was the start of a new era of European activities. The Board of Education took the early decision to install a dedicated office to meet the new challenges of implementing European projects. This was the inception of the European Office (Europäisches Büro – EUB), a trailblazer at the time, which is still at work today.
Objectives
The Board established the EUB to address these new European ventures. The office’s primary objectives were the following.
- Facilitate exchange: promote fruitful interaction with educational institutions in Europe to enable reciprocal learning and introduce innovative educational methods for Viennese students, teachers and families.
- Enhance project management: continuously improve the preparation, implementation and sustainability of European educational projects and develop necessary skills for such endeavours.
- Support school partnerships: offer support to schools in establishing and nurturing partnerships with other European schools.
- Promote language learning: encourage the acquisition of languages beyond English, such as French, Spanish, Italian and the languages of neighbouring countries.
Implementation
The EUB was staffed with individuals who, despite lacking prior experience with project implementation, were motivated by the vision of a mobile and growing Europe. They learned on the job and actively participated in EU workshops to gain the necessary knowledge and skills.
Initially, the EUB tackled the CERNET project, focusing on supporting educational institutions in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. This success led to further projects involving various countries across Europe. With the launch of Erasmus+ in 2014, the EUB saw an opportunity to engage schools in Vienna. They designed the ‘Enter Europe’ project, which offers teacher and headmaster exchanges and aims to motivate Viennese schools to participate in Erasmus+. This ongoing initiative has resulted in extensive training and study visits across Europe for teachers and administrators.