New Science Minister Faces Student Unrest

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENNA 000106 SIPDIS, SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TSPL TNGD PINR KSCA TBIO TPHY AU EUN SUBJECT: New Science Minister Faces Student Unrest REF: 2009 Vienna 1534 VIENNA 00000106 001.2 OF 002 Sensitive but unclassified -- protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On January 25, the GoA appointed Beatrix Karl as its new science minister. Like her predecessor Johannes Hahn -- who left to become European Commissioner for Regional Policy (reftel) -- Karl is a university law professor and a member of the conservative People's Party (OeVP). Karl faces daunting challenges to revitalize a beleaguered university system full of rebelling students and to restructure a generous but entrenched system for funding research. END SUMMARY. Biographic Background - - - - - - - - - - - ¶2. (SBU) Beatrix Karl is both an academic and a party politician. Karl was born on December 10, 1967 in Graz. She received both her master's in jurisprudence (1991) and her doctorate (1995) at the Karl-Franzens University in Graz, with a dissertation on labor welfare issues in Upper Austria. She has worked at the university's Labor and Social Law department since 1991, becoming an assistant professor in 2001 and associate professor in 2003. From 1999 to 2002, Karl was an Austrian Academy of Science Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Social Law in Munich. She has also served on the advisory committee of the Pedagogical University of Styria. ¶3. (SBU) Karl began her rather recent political career in 2005, when she became a member of the European Committee of Social Rights at the Council of Europe, an assignment she held until 2007. In November 2006, she was elected a member of parliament for the conservative OeVP; she was reelected in September 2008. In 2008, Karl became OeVP science spokeswoman in Parliament; in 2009, she became general secretary of the Austrian Worker's Association (a conservative labor federation representing primarily civil servants). Student Protests to Continue - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶4. (U) Party leaders had a tough time finding a strong candidate to succeed Johannes Hahn, since the job represents a political nightmare due to the current student uprising. Austria's public university system has suffered for years from underfunding and a dilapidated infrastructure, problems exacerbated by recent influx of foreign students. Over the past ten years, student enrollment has risen by 26%, with the greatest increase coming after tuition fees were abolished a year ago (a 2008 campaign promise by Social Democrats). With no tuition fees and non-selective admissions, Austria has attracted a wave of German enrollees who now make up 7% of the student population. In response to overcrowding and underfunding, university students across Austria demonstrated regularly in late 2009, with students occupying the University of Vienna for several months. Students were further angered in December, when conservatives proposed bringing back tuition fees as a way to raise money and curb enrollment. ¶5. (U) Students express disappointment with Karl's appointment ("a provocation") since Karl advocates reintroducing of fees. Austrian Student Union official Thomas Wallerberger warned "there will be no honeymoon for the new minister" and called on Karl to grow the budget for universities by 2% of GDP (COMMENT: an completely unrealistic demand given Austria's budget gap). Student groups warned there will be massive demonstrations when Austria hosts the Bologna Ministerial Anniversary Conference in Vienna on March 12, intended to celebrate the "Bologna Process" which introduced EU-wide bachelor and master degree standards (but disliked by most Austrian students and professors). Other Reactions - - - - - - - - - ¶6. (U) The response of the scientific community to Karl's appointment has been tepid. Hahn left without finished a proposed "research financing law" and researchers wonder whether the new minister will help or hurt their projects/institutions. Physicist Anton Zeilinger at Vienna University called on Karl to follow her predecessor in strengthening scientific excellence in Austria. The Social Democrats (SPOe) are generally supportive of Karl's appointment: science spokeswoman Andrea Kuntzl said her party would engage in "constructive cooperation" with Karl in tackling universities' "huge challenges." By contrast, far-right extremist and Freedom Party (FPOe) science spokesman Martin Graf said no other ministry was as chaotic as the science ministry: "She will need a lot of elan [and money] to deal with problems there." COMMENT - - - - ¶7. (SBU) While Karl is likely to face recurrent student unrest as science minister, she has insider knowledge of the university system and labor negotiations that should help her to address its VIENNA 00000106 002.2 OF 002 shortcomings. However there is no indication that she will be a particularly strong supporter of funding for R&D. END COMMENT. EACHO