Thousands protest planned university cuts in Innsbruck

About 3,500 people took to the streets in Innsbruck on Thursday to oppose planned cuts to university budgets, ORF reported. Protesters warned the plans could lead to job losses and weaken Austria as a centre for research. They also criticised the lack of specific budgets for individual universities, saying this made planning difficult.

The demonstration began at 2 p.m. at the Annasäule in central Innsbruck. Laboratory staff and doctors joined in white coats, while most of the growing crowd consisted of students. Many carried signs opposing cuts to universities and calling for more funding.

Julian Herb and Maximilian Haslinger, the student representatives of the University of Innsbruck and the Medical University of Innsbruck, warned that degree programmes could be merged or abolished if the plans went ahead. Haslinger said medical students and graduates would have no future if the cuts were implemented. Herb urged the government to change course by Saturday.

The march set off at about 2.30 p.m. and was planned to pass through the city centre before ending at the square in front of the Landestheater. Medical University rector Gert Mayer said the plans would reverse a long-standing consensus to raise university funding to 2 percent of gross domestic product. Dirk Rupnow, the University of Innsbruck’s vice-rector for personnel, warned that the plans would have major effects on research and society, with disadvantages for at least two generations in Austria.