In Austrian universities, some structural problems inherent in the Universities Act are unmistakable. Therefore, over a period of two years, various organizations related to the university sector have developed proposals for a fundamental reform of the Universities Act, which relate to university organizational structures, democratic participation, personnel policy and financing.

Representatives of NUWiss, the IG Lektor*innen (representatives of lecturers), the Elise Richter Network, the Gender Studies Association Austrian (ÖGGF) and representatives of the ULV (representatives of scientific staff) as well as BV13 of the Public Service Union (GÖD), which is responsible for universities, were involved in the development of the proposal. Organizations of precarious employees in particular were actively involved in the development of the proposals.

The paper defines its goal as "to offer university staff long-term prospects, to safeguard the quality and freedom of teaching and research at Austria's public universities, and to live up to the claim of optimization through self-regulation on which the 2002 university autonomy was based."

The paper starts with organizational law and organizational principles. It states a low degree of integration of the staff due to the strong differentiation of staff groups. Specifically, the paper proposes to merge the existing personnel categories of administrative and academic staff into a unified group of university employees. This merger would result in only one Staff Council for all university employees. Salary classifications should be redefined in a newly drafted collective bargaining agreement for universities and linked to functions and purposes. The professional title of professor should be awarded upon the attainment of certain scientific and/or artistic qualifications and should be linked to a salary increase.

Another starting point for change is the curia system, which is still strongly rooted at universities. In the paper, this is seen as very hierarchical and anachronistic. A new Universities Act should create a faculty model with democratic participation structures. Especially in management functions, greater diversity and a more even balance with regard to gender, social origin and other criteria should be achieved. Specifically, the paper proposes the creation of a women's quota until the existing imbalances at the various career levels are eliminated.

Questions of participation and publicity are paramount. As a result of the Universities Act 2002, the decision-making power is now concentrated in the Rector's Council and the University Board and the Senate has been partially disempowered. The paper proposes a "democratic reorganization" of these bodies. Within the framework of a faculty model, the principle of one-third parity should be renewed. Furthermore, the universities should be opened up more to society. Concrete institutional proposals are also made for this.

Successive contracts (“Kettenverträge”) are a core problem in personnel policy at Austrian universities. The paper proposes abolishing the relevant section 109 of the Universities Act and bringing employment at Austrian universities closer to general labor law. In a transitional period, Austria-wide models for tenure-track contracts with transparent and precise criteria should be developed. In the opinion of the authors of the paper, the development of career models beyond the professorship is also important. The development of personnel development plans should also be carried out on a broad basis.

On the one hand, too short-term funding cycles and, on the other hand, a relative neglect of basic research (“Grundlagenforschung”) are observed. Therefore, the paper proposes, among other things, a ten-year, inflation-indexed basic funding as well as a strengthening of global budgets compared to third-party funding.

From a problem analysis, the paper develops both a new vision of democratized universities and concrete proposals for fundamental changes to the Universities Act. The Academic Staff Council of WU will participate in creating a forum where this vision and these proposals can be discussed at WU.

^03.07.2023

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