A few months ago I commented on an ECJ ruling that Austria's university admission policies violated the treaties. Austria has traditionally allowed Austrian students unrestricted access to higher education, but was not applying the same standard of admissions to foreign students. The court ruled that all students, regardless of which member state they were from, must be held to the same admissions standard. I thought now might be a good time to revisit the issue and see what impact it has had on Austria's universities. One commentator suggests that there is a state of emergency in Austrian universities, in particular suggesting the fears of low-achieving students from Germany overwhelming Austrian schools have proven well-founded and that the government is struggling to handle the crisis:
The situation is particularly dramatic in the medical faculties: in Vienna 1,500 Austrians compete with as many German applicants for only 1,560 places; in Innsbruck 447 Austrians come up against 2,147 Germans for only 500 places; and in Graz there are only 300 places for 917 Austrian and 1,964 Germans.
The Austrian government has answered the stampede at the Universities with a short-term emergency law which states that the autonomous Universities have a free hand with the rules of entry limits in eight subjects: Human Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Medicine, Psychology, Biology, Pharmacy, Business Studies and Journalism. Education Minister Elisabeth Gehrer explains that “a country of 8 million inhabitants cannot provide student places for a country of 80 million people”. They are trying, with the use of defensive tactics and time-tested tricks, to make sure that the native students get priority over foreign students.
While Austria's comittment to providing their citizens with a quality education is commendable, this depiction of what is happening in Austria's schools is not all that gloomy. The ECJ ruling has produced competition in higher education in Austria as I predicted. Austria can continue to drag their feet, but in reality, eventually they will have to allow for competitive admissions in all their university programs. While it may be that Germans applying for university programs in Austria are underacheivers, some may simply want to attend University outside of Germany or want to study in a particular program available in Austria. By forcing competition, it rewards those who are truly qualified whether Austrian or not. That will increase the quality of education for everyone while only punishing underacheiving Austrians.
The situation is particularly dramatic in the medical faculties: in Vienna 1,500 Austrians compete with as many German applicants for only 1,560 places; in Innsbruck 447 Austrians come up against 2,147 Germans for only 500 places; and in Graz there are only 300 places for 917 Austrian and 1,964 Germans.
The Austrian government has answered the stampede at the Universities with a short-term emergency law which states that the autonomous Universities have a free hand with the rules of entry limits in eight subjects: Human Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Medicine, Psychology, Biology, Pharmacy, Business Studies and Journalism. Education Minister Elisabeth Gehrer explains that “a country of 8 million inhabitants cannot provide student places for a country of 80 million people”. They are trying, with the use of defensive tactics and time-tested tricks, to make sure that the native students get priority over foreign students.
While Austria's comittment to providing their citizens with a quality education is commendable, this depiction of what is happening in Austria's schools is not all that gloomy. The ECJ ruling has produced competition in higher education in Austria as I predicted. Austria can continue to drag their feet, but in reality, eventually they will have to allow for competitive admissions in all their university programs. While it may be that Germans applying for university programs in Austria are underacheivers, some may simply want to attend University outside of Germany or want to study in a particular program available in Austria. By forcing competition, it rewards those who are truly qualified whether Austrian or not. That will increase the quality of education for everyone while only punishing underacheiving Austrians.
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