Social sciences and educational planning: The founding of the University of Klagenfurt and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

This paper focuses on the role of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in decision making processes which led to the foundation of a new university in Klagenfurt, Austria, in 1970. As Austria's educational policy and planning started to rely on the expertise of social scientists in the 1960s, studies of OECD experts on the future demand for graduates from certain disciplines influenced the decision of the Austrian Ministry of Education to establish a university for educational sciences (Hochschule fur Bildungswissenschaften) in Klagenfurt. The OECD also helped to organise a conference in 1969 in order to facilitate the discussion of a draft concept for the envisaged university with international experts and hence became directly involved in the founding of the university. The findings in this paper are based on research in the Austrian State Archives in Vienna, the Carinthian State Archives in Klagenfurt and the University Archives in Klagenfurt.