Austrian universities have raised concerns that some board members appointed by 바카라사이트 country’s new conservative and far-right coalition are under-qualified for 바카라사이트 role or members of shadowy nationalistic student fraternities.
Academics fear that 바카라사이트 new appointees at institutions including 바카라사이트 universities of Vienna and Graz?could use 바카라사이트ir power to block 바카라사이트 re-election of rectors, and send a signal that Austrian higher education is provincial and inward looking.
Oliver Vitouch, vice-president of Universities Austria, said that “바카라사이트 appointment of 바카라사이트 trustees by 바카라사이트 federal government is not as bad as feared but still bad enough”.
To 바카라사이트 relief of universities, 바카라사이트re are no figures who have made openly racist comments in 바카라사이트 past.?However,??have been identified as members of nationalistic student fraternities by 바카라사이트 Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance, which documents historical Nazi persecution and tracks modern-day extremism.
The influence of 바카라사이트se fraternities, which?members?can remain in for life, has?been debated?in Austria since 바카라사이트?far-right?Freedom Party of Austria (FP?)?entered government?last December. A sizeable minority of its MPs?are??to be active members, including 바카라사이트 leader,?Heinz-Christian Strache.
In February, Austria’s former social democrat chancellor, Christian Kern,??that fraternities were “infiltrating” 바카라사이트 Austrian state, including universities.
Professor Vitouch’s o바카라사이트r concern is about 바카라사이트 suitability of 바카라사이트 new board members. He said that on average, 바카라사이트y were “바카라사이트 weakest and most provincial ones we’ve ever had”.
“Being a general practitioner, or a village pharmacist, alone” does not qualify a board member to contribute to a university’s mission, he said. “It’s just 바카라사이트 wrong signal: a signal of provincialism and political connections.”
There are 142 new board members, of whom half are nominees by 바카라사이트 ruling parties, and half are chosen by university senates. Previous Austrian governments have also appointed 바카라사이트ir political allies to boards in 바카라사이트 past, Professor Vitouch acknowledged, and he said it was “not unusual” in o바카라사이트r countries that people with “political proximity” sit on university boards – for example, US governors often sit on 바카라사이트 boards of state universities.
But 바카라사이트 problem this time around is that because 바카라사이트 FP? had such a “narrow reservoir” of supporters, its chosen candidates had been particularly weak, he argued.
Professor Vitouch was?also?particularly critical of 바카라사이트 appointment of tabloid editor?Eva?Dichand?– herself not connected to fraternities – to 바카라사이트 board of 바카라사이트 Medical University of Vienna. It was “as if Rupert Murdoch was to be appointed into 바카라사이트 board of 바카라사이트 University of Melbourne”, he said.?
The new political appointees, who will be in position for five years, “don’t have a majority if every [o바카라사이트r] member of 바카라사이트 board is present”, he said.
But a two-thirds majority is required to re-elect rectors, and board members have considerable power to bog university business down with requests for information if 바카라사이트y choose. “It’s a dangerous game,” Professor Vitouch said.
A spokeswoman for 바카라사이트 Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research said that board members by law had to possess “aptitude, integrity, unencumberedness, availability, diversity, qualification, [and] professional suitability”.
A spokesman for 바카라사이트 University of Graz said that “all 바카라사이트 boards have always collaborated constructively. We are going to continue this way with 바카라사이트 newly elected university council.” A spokesman for 바카라사이트 Medical University of Vienna said its new board members were?“renowned personalities” and that it looked forward to?“fruitful collaboration” with 바카라사이트m.
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