Austria revamps

The European Investment Bank has announced that it will lend €100 million (£62.8 million) to an Austrian government construction agency to build and renovate university and school buildings.

The loans are part of a €250 million investment programme covering several years.

For universities, the money will allow the Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft mbH agency to modernise Vienna Technical University, constructing new buildings for the mechanical engineering faculty and new facilities for the Institute of Chemistry.

The loan will also finance improvements at the dental school and extend the library at Vienna University. Money will also be spent on Vienna's University of Agricultural Science and the Technical University of Graz.

EIB vice-president Ewald Nowotny said: "The EIB is underpinning the European Union's objective of promoting the transition to an information and knowledge-based society through expanding educational infrastructure and stepping up R&D."