The years 1992/1993 mark the birth of ÖSD when it was established on initiative of ÖDaF in the context of a working group under the direction of Dr. Robert Saxer / University of Klagenfurt. In 1994, with the support of the former Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the former Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research ÖSD became a project at the University of Vienna within the German as a Foreign Language study programme, at the time headed by University professor Dr. Hans-Jürgen Krumm. Numerous notable German as a Foreign Language experts contributed significantly to ÖSD’s further development. On 1st December 1994 ÖSD was institutionalised under the trusteeship of Österreich-Kooperation known today as OeAD – the Austrian agency for international mobility and cooperation in education, science and research.
Since then, the ÖSD has received support and guidance by a board of trustees, which initially also included financial support by the Austrian Ministries. The board of trustees comprises the Austrian Ministries mentioned above as well as relevant institutions such as universities, other institutes of adult education and interest groups such as ÖDaF.
In terms of expert-knowledge and expertise, the ÖSD relies on a scientific advisory board. On a case-by-case-basis, the ÖSD also cooperates with other institutions for different projects, a recent example being the development of the exam Zertifikat B1 where we collaborated with the Goethe-Institute and the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, or with the Austrian Commerce Chambers for the development of the exam Zertifikat C2 / Wirtschaftssprache Deutsch.
Since the end of 2009, the ÖSD has been a self-sustaining non-profit organisation. The first exams were conducted in 1995, at then, 7 licensed centres. Today, more than 100,000 candidates from around the world take an ÖSD exam every year, at one of about 400 licensed centres. In 1998, the ÖSD was awarded the “European Label for Innovative Projects in Language Teaching and Learning” by the European Commission.
The ÖSD was and regularly is involved in numerous international projects (European Council), for example: as co-editor of The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages of the European Council, as well as Mündlich and Profile deutsch, the ÖSD makes a substantial contribution, which by default has increased the popularity of our exams.
Moreover, the ÖSD regularly publishes numerous scientific articles in topic-related journals (see scientific publications), is present at, as well as organising conferences and workshops, and by doing so, fosters expert discussion and academic exchange in the field of German as a Foreign and Second Language.