The University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817. Today, with a student body of over three thousand, 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.