Budget cuts threaten teaching and research at Linz university

The Johannes Kepler University Linz is facing possible budget cuts from 2028 despite record enrolment and strong demand for artificial intelligence courses, ORF reported. The university’s rector, Stefan Koch, said the ministry’s latest figures indicate a 15 percent budget shortfall for 2028 to 2030.

The final decision is expected by October 31, with negotiations still under way. The university said cuts would have noticeable consequences for teaching, research and infrastructure.

JKU has around 27,000 students, a record number, including almost 5,000 first-year students last year. Courses related to artificial intelligence are particularly popular, including among international students.

Koch said the demand was so strong that the university would have to consider either admissions criteria or additional funding from the ministry. He said savings would be difficult to implement quickly because degree programmes run for several years, as do related research contracts with industry and business.

The new digital university ITU is also putting pressure on university budgets through relatively costly programmes taught in small groups and organised around projects.

Koch said JKU’s strategy for the future would focus on the breadth of its disciplines and the links between them, including medicine and technology. From the autumn, the university will offer a new master’s degree in psychotherapy. Koch said mental health and resilience, including in relation to artificial intelligence, would be important issues in the future.