Minister guarantees doctors’ pay as university budgets tighten

Austria’s science minister has guaranteed the salaries of doctors at university clinics as universities face tighter budgets, ORF Upper Austria reported. The funding arrangements for those salaries have not yet been finalised.

The federal government plans to provide 16 billion euros to universities over the next three years, roughly the same amount as before. But inflation means the institutions will have less money in real terms. Doctors’ salaries at university clinics have so far been paid from university budgets.

Science Minister Eva-Maria Holzleitner said the medical universities and the medical faculty in Linz needed clear assurances that doctors’ salaries were secure. She also pointed to existing agreements between medical universities, hospitals and the ministry, saying the government would honour them.

Holzleitner did not explain how the funding would be secured. She suggested medical universities could receive a larger share of the joint university budget, leaving less for other institutions.

Brigitte Hütter, president of the Universities Austria association, warned that the limited funding would bring severe cuts. She said substantial staff reductions would be unavoidable, affecting students, researchers and early-career academics.

Johannes Kepler University Linz rector Stefan Koch said his university could face cuts of 10 to 15 percent, depending on inflation. Because staff costs make up most university spending, he said, reductions in positions would be unavoidable in both administration and research, threatening academic careers.