Internationalisation Award

The Internationalisation Award showcases examples of good practice in implementing the National Mobility and Internationalisation Strategy for Higher Education (HMIS2030). The Internationalisation Award is presented in four categories and aims to highlight examples of good practice for internationalisation of the curriculum, the promotion of mobility of university staff and underrepresented student groups, and internationalised university culture in practice.

The Award’s four categories are based on the strategic goals of HMIS2030, measures to be awarded differ in terms of their respective target groups. Taken together, the four categories include all university members and set the framework for identifying creative and innovative implementation of the strategy at higher education institutions across different sectors.

- Category 1: Internationalisation of the Curriculum – Internationalisation of learning and teaching

- Category 2: Mobility and skills development for teaching and administrative university staff

- Category 3: Mobility for under-represented student groups

- Category 4: Internationalised university culture in practice

The first edition of the Internationalisation Award was announced in spring 2025. Submissions were accepted here on the platform from mid-April until mid-July 2025. In total, 103 submissions were received from 38 distinct higher-education institutions across Austria, representing all four types of Austrian HEIs.

Over the summer, the Internationalisation Award Jury, consisting of three experts on internationalisation from HEIs in Switzerland and Germany and a student representative also from Germany evaluated all submissions and chose the winners in the jury meeting at the beginning of October. The award ceremony then took place on 27 November, and winners received their Internationalisation Award trophies and certificates from Austrian federal minister Eva-Maria Holzleitner. For photos of the award ceremony please see this link.

The 2025 Internationalisation Award winners illustrate the diversity of internationalisation practices:

In the category “Internationalisation of the Curriculum”, the winner was FH JOANNEUM (University of Applied Sciences) for their project Enabling Mobility in Dietetics. FH JOANNEUM showcased how study programmes in dietetics incorporated structured mobility and curricular internationalisation rather than treating mobility as an add-on.

The first place in the category “Mobility and skills development for teaching and administrative university staff” was awarded to the University of Innsbruck. Their Internationalisation Certificate for Administrative Staff aims to build international and intercultural competences among administrative university staff.

In the third category “Mobility for under-represented groups”, top honours went to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Their example of good practice demonstrates that mobility programmes can and should be made accessible to a diverse student body.

Last but not least, the Technical University Graz was awarded the first place in the category “Internationalised university culture in practice”. The International House of TU Graz is an initiative fostering an inclusive and international institutional culture.

The Internationalisation Award will be back with a second edition in 2026 to once again reward the real-world implementation of HMIS2030.

Should you have any questions about the Internationalisation Award, do not hesitate to contact us (in English or German) at hmis2030@oead.at.

Trophy of the Internationalisation Award 2025, Copyright: OeAD/APA-Fotoservice/Hetfleisch