ANNEX II: The Diplomatic Academy of Vienna

The Academy is an autonomous institution, but remains within the political competence of the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs. At the beginning of October 2001 a total of 24 participants, including 14 Austrians, successfully completed the 37th postgraduate diploma course. A further 26 candidates, including 13 Austrian citizens, were accepted for the 38th diploma course. To date, 764 graduates, including 364 from 84 foreign countries, have been awarded the diploma of the Diplomatic Academy. A total of 21 students graduated from the Academy's Master of Advanced International Studies (M.A.I.S.) course, which is organised in conjunction with the University of Vienna. Another 26 applicants qualified for entry to the fifth M.A.I.S. course. The first Special Course in International Studies, which is intended as a preparation for the M.A.I.S. course, was completed by 15 participants, and 16 applicants were accepted for the second course.

Another two special courses for young diplomats from Central and Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Mongolia were attended by 43 participants. By the end of 2002 a total of 512 participants from 28 reform countries have been able to make use of this special training opportunity. The Academy's traditional summer course for German language and Austrian studies was attended by 69 participants from 44 countries.

The Academy was again the venue for the annual International Forum on Diplomatic Training.

The programme of in-service training for the staff of Austrian and foreign institutions included a seminar for training directors in the foreign ministries of countries belonging to the Central European Initiative, a seminar lasting several weeks for US German studies specialists under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Humanities, a seminar cycle for the Austrian Foreign Ministry, and further education events for several other ministries.

The role of the Diplomatic Academy as an information and conference centre expanded, with over 200 lectures, conferences and seminars on international issues. These included the 31st Vienna Seminar of the International Peace Academy (New York), on conflict resolution in the Caucasus; and the first Milton Wolf Seminar on journalism and diplomacy, organised jointly with Duke University and the American Austrian Foundation. In addition to the Jahrbuch der Diplomatischen Akademie Wien, which gives a detailed list of all the courses and other activities, the DA's publication series continued with Occasional Papers (renamed Favorita Papers) on various diplomatic topics.