In a vote of 16 to 26 in its May 9 session, WU's Senate has approved the Rector's Council's initiative to reintroduce tuition fees in certain cases. The fees apply only to so-called long-term students, who have been enrolled for longer than the regular duration of their program plus two extra semesters, as well as to third-country nationals. Early in 2012, the tuition fee legislation from 2008 was repealed by the Austrian Constitutional Court on legal grounds as per March 2012, and was not rectified by the government after that. For WU, this meant the loss of € 1.5 million in tuition fees in the summer semester of 2012.

As per the winter semester of 2012/13, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business will reintroduce the previously valid tuition fee regulations, a step also being taken by several other universities. The majority of WU's students, however, will not have to pay tuition fees.

Court decisions make up for the lack of political decisions

There are conflicting legal opinions on whether the universities' autonomy entitles them to collect tuition fees; even within the government there is disagreement on this issue. By not acting, the government is forcing the universities, which depend on these funds, to collect tuition fees despite the lack of legal certainty. "We find ourselves in the highly unpleasant situation of having to take a risk because the politicians in charge are refusing to provide legal clarity", WU's Rector Christoph Badelt explains. "Once again, we will have to call upon the courts to make crucial political decisions in higher education; this is representative of the paralysis of Austria's education policies."

Unconstitutional fees will be refunded without exception

The universities' aim is to press for a clarification of the legislative framework by the aid of test suits before the Constitutional Court. As long as there is no legal certainty, the collected fees cannot be used to make sustainable investments to improve teaching and academic quality, but must instead be withheld in case they eventually have to be refunded. "If the Constitutional Court rules the autonomous tuition fee regulation unconstitutional, WU will refund all tuition fees without exception, regardless of whether the individual students took their case to court or not", Rector Badelt explains the further proceedings.

Information and contact:
Cornelia Moll
PR officer
Tel: + 43-1-31336-4977
cornelia.moll@wu.ac.at