As Independent Student Representative Lists of Austria (FLÖ), we look forward to Austria's new government coalition, though we do criticize several points in the government program.
Experience from recent years shows that while universities have seen increased funding, student numbers have declined due to demographic change and a greater choice of alternative pathways. We demand that universities not be disadvantaged as a result and that improved conditions be allowed to bear fruit. At universities of applied sciences, we welcome the increase in funding rates and study places in the interest of fully financed institutions of higher education.
Conversely, the program also reveals tendencies to further restrict access to higher education and to reduce the proven study rights framework. We see the danger that the number of students will continue to decline while more problematic cases arise, given that strong study rights at all higher education institutions lay the foundation for legal certainty and provide protection against arbitrariness. It must be the declared goal that people find the educational and training path that is right for them and can then complete it without unnecessary obstacles.
We are pleased that the new government acknowledges the everyday lives of students in several respects, for example in creating part-time study options, expanding financial aid, and recognizing knowledge acquired elsewhere. It would only be consistent to take this further and completely abolish enrollment fees and tuition fees as socially selective instruments.
We view with particular concern possible shifts in decision-making without consideration of students. It is striking that, on the one hand, the rectorate is given directive competence in study plans, whose approval has so far been solely the responsibility of the senate (with student voting rights!), and on the other hand, in the formulation “rethinking the relationship between the University Council, Rectorate, and Senate in decision-making structures.” Past legislative amendments often paint a less than positive picture; in particular, in appointments, the student voice has not always been provided for in recent years. As the largest group at Austrian higher education institutions, students are entitled to a say on equal footing. Even in the relatively new system of Teacher Education New (PBN), decisions must not be made over their heads.
What the science sector unfortunately lacks is a perspective for all non-STEM fields. The government must also consider basic research and applied research in other areas, including in particular interdisciplinary studies. We also reject aligning research purely with the short-term needs of the economy, as this would completely disregard many fields of study.