On April 2, 1821, the Protestant theological college was opened in Vienna. The control of the Protestant clergy had been the essential criterion for its establishment. In 1850, as part of the Thun-Hohenstein university reform, the institute was raised to the rank of an independent faculty, which in 1861 received the right to award doctorates. Nevertheless, the institute or the Evangelical Theological Faculty were outside the university association until 1922.
