Modern Education

The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (German: Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university established in 1817 in Vienna. With a student body of over 3,000, it is the largest institution of its kind in Austria, and one of the largest in the world. In 1817, it was established by the Society for the Friends of Music. It has had several names: Vienna Conservatory, Vienna Academy and in 1909 it was nationalized as the Imperial Academy of Music and the Performing Arts. In 1998, the University assumed its current name to reflect its university status, attained in a wide-ranging 1970 reform for Austrian Arts Academies.