University of Vienna

The University of Vienna (German: Universität Wien) in Austria was founded in 1365 by Rudolph IV and hence named Alma mater Rudolphina. It is the largest and oldest university in the German-speaking world (except the University of Prague, which used to be partly German-speaking). To distinguish it from other Viennese universities, it is also often informally referred to as Hauptuni ("main university").

Organizational Structure: History and Present Developments

The University of Vienna (as all universities and academies in Austria) featured an innovative system of democratic representation. Power inside the university was shared equally among the three pressure groups: students (the largest), junior faculty and full professors. All groups had the right to send representatives to boards that then took votes on almost all issues. While guaranteeing that all groups had equal chances to bring up changes in the university, some argue that it led to corruption, especially in the nomination of people into prestigious positions.

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The present government of Wolfgang Schüssel enacted a reform of the university system in Austria, leading to a concentration of power with the full professors, the introduction of a board of governors (with a government majority in electing it) and tuition fees (currently ?387/semester). Another element of these harshly criticised reforms was the creation of separate medical universities out of the Austrian medical schools, one of them being the Medical University of Vienna -- in the traditional sense, the University of Vienna is therefore not any longer a full university.

Related Topics:
Wolfgang Schüssel - Medical University of Vienna

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