Austria: Thousands of students take to streets

Austria: Thousands of students take to streets

Tens of thousands of students have taken to the streets in Vienna demanding free education.

Organisers claimed at least 20,000 protesters yesterday (Thurs) marched from Vienna University to Urban-Loritz-Platz calling for "free education for everyone".

Police though said only 7,000 had been involved in the protest.

At Urban-Loritz-Platz, a number of speakers, including representatives of a group calling itself "Initiative Kindergartenaufstand" (Initiative Kindergarten Rebellion), claimed there was a right to free education.

Meanwhile there were demonstrations in Salzburg, including a procession of a coffin from the social science building through the old city to Mirabellplatz under the slogan "(People’s Party or ÖVP Science Minister Johannes) Hahn is taking education to the grave."

Posters carried by many demonstrators called a number of federal ministers "hypocrites."

Speakers demanded free access to higher education, adequate funding of universities, barrier-free study throughout Europe, democratisation of universities, free education from kindergarten through university study and freedom of universities from business pressure.

The workers’ council for artistic and scientific personnel at Austrian universities supported student protests yesterday, claiming they had succeeded in provoking public discussion of serious problems in educational and research policy.

The council said proposals to restrict university admissions as the solution of universities’ problems was "uncreative and bereft of ideas."

Wolf-Dietrich von Fircks, the rector of Vienna’s Veterinary Medical University (VUW) called on the government to provide more funding for universities that had been overburdened financially for years.

Christoph Badelt, the rector of Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration (WU), was quoted by Der Standard online as saying: "Our overload is dramatically high." He rejected proposals that the universities themselves should decide how to divide the money in the university budget.

He claimed that would be illegal since the university law required the science minister, responsible for higher education, to reach separate funding arrangements with each university.

President Heinz Fischer called yesterday for a solution to Austrian universities’ problems. He said there must be "serious, significant dialogue without any pre-conditions that will lead to solutions of the problems in our universities and educational policy." He called on students to accept Hahn’s invitation to talks.

Meanwhile, a poll by the Linz research institute IMAS of 500 people older than 16 this week showed that 86 per cent of Austrians supported fewer university admissions and the adoption of entrance examinations. Ninety-six per cent said they were aware of student protests.

Austrian Times, 06/11/09

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