Universities in Austria: Students' protests continue

I have to admit that I did not expect such lasting resistance, for several reasons: I was a delegate to the ÖH (the Austrian Student's Union) myself until 2003 and remember how passive the Austrian students were; I went to the AudiMax in Week 1 of the occupation and saw how hardcore left-wing most of the students there are (certainly not representative for the majority of students); and I know that the conditions in Vienna are considerably worse than at any other university in Austria when it comes to over-use of facilities and stressed faculty.

However, they are still there: The main lecture theatre of Vienna University is still occupied. The good thing about this is, that education is now seriously debated in the media. Whilst the demands of the occupants are absurd (free education, 100% unregulated access to the universities, no tution fee anywhere in the world, etc.), some serious arguments are put forward. And Austria's young people are finally heard - quite an achievement in a country where retired people, farmers, doctors, teachers, unions, trade unions, general civil servants, railway employees, etc. have spent decades in forming an impermeable "insider" shelter.

For a new idea on educational matters sparked by the protests, see this article in today's Presse.