Linz university warns of job and teaching cuts under new budget

Austria’s federal government has agreed on a university budget of 16 billion euros for 2028 to 2030, prompting fears of job and course cuts at Johannes Kepler University (JKU) Linz, ORF Upper Austria reported.

“The mood is very bad,” Angela Wegscheider, deputy chair of the works council for JKU’s academic staff, told ORF. The university employs about 3,000 academic staff and around 1,150 employees in general roles, according to the works council. Wegscheider said research projects, including international projects funded from abroad, and new degree programmes created long-term commitments. The council would monitor any measures closely, she said.

Nadja Aichinger, who chairs the works council for general staff, also expects cuts. She said staff make up most of a university’s resources and warned that jobs would be at risk if funding fell short. Aichinger cited rough calculations suggesting thousands of jobs could be affected nationwide, but gave no basis for the estimate.

The JKU student union also warned of an impact on teaching. Its chair, Markus Frandl, said staff and students were worried that cuts would mean fewer courses and larger classes. Around three quarters of JKU students work alongside their studies, he said, and reduced course availability could make it harder to combine work and study. Students from Linz are expected to join a demonstration against the budget in Vienna on Thursday.

JKU Rector Stefan Koch has warned that job cuts would be unavoidable and that courses and degree programmes could be affected. The Universities Austria association says the budget amounts to a shortfall of about two billion euros when adjusted for inflation.

The 16 billion euros also includes funding to build Linz’s new digital university, IT:U. Former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said six years ago that funding for the university would be additional and would not come at the expense of other institutions. According to the source, the Science Ministry indicated that this had not been the case in recent years. Upper Austria Governor Thomas Stelzer called the budget “certainly no accelerator of growth” on Monday and sought long-term funding clarity for the Medical Faculty Linz and IT:U.