Austria
www.socialistworld.net,
website of the committee for a workers' international, CWI
Government forced to make first concessions
Laura Rafetseder, SLP (CWI in Austria)
On Thursday October 22, students at Vienna University occupied their main lecture hall, Auditorium Maximus. 6 days later, the occupations have spread to other Austrian universities and cities. On October 28, 50000 students in Vienna and 400 in Salzburg took to the streets to march against a lack of resources, space and finance and for free education. Their main demands are, for an increase in funding to the universities instead of giving money to the banks, no to tuition fees, the bologna process (European directive furthering moves towards “marketisation” of education) and “knock out” exams. The protests seem to have led to initial successes.
After 9 days of occupation, Science Minister, Hahn, signalled that the government would give €34 million more to the universities. Despite the fact that this €34 million will not solve the crisis regarding the universities, it is a sign that the government can be forced to make concessions by struggle.
Lack of funding responsible for crisis at universities
The first to protest were students at the University of Fine Arts, against the introduction of the bachelor/masters’ decree system, inspired by the Bologna process. They were soon joined by fellow students at Vienna university, who were fed up with conditions at university - students had to sit on the floor because of full lecture halls etc. During the general election period last year, tuition fees had been partly abolished, as a result of a strong mood against the fees. They still apply though, for non-EU students, and students who study for longer than a certain amount of semesters. The media and the government have tried to blame this partial abolishing of tuition fees, as well as the number of German students attending Austrian universities for the present crisis - ignoring the fact that a lack of funding is responsible.
