The Austrian Institute for Vocational Education Research (öibf) was founded in 1970 on the initiative of the Berufsförderungsinstitut with the support of interest groups for employees and the Federal Ministries of Labor and Social Affairs as well as Science and Research. It was one of the first institutions of this kind in Europe and is the most traditional VET research institution in Austria.

The scientific institute is a non-profit organization in the non-university area. The field of work comprises the implementation and management of national and international research and development related to vocational and vocational education. In addition to empirical research, the goal of the öibf is to bring together isolated and fragmentary research results from various disciplines and thus to draw a comprehensive picture of the complex reality of education.

Contacts and cooperation with international institutions also in the context of supranational institutions exist since the year of foundation. The aim of the institute’s research and development work is the support of educational practice as well as scientific policy advice.

As in previous years, when the öibf completed around 1350 projects, a team of staff is working on scientific foundations for education and labor market policy in Austria and Europe. In addition to contract research, in-house projects are also carried out, in particular with regard to questions of scientific methodology.