Office for Education Politics
The core mission of the Educational Policy Unit is to observe, analyse and actively shape Austrian educational policy. The governments of the past ten years have further sapped the funding of the country’s educational institutions, to catastrophic effect: Austria’s educational system counts among the most socially exclusive, the proportion of university graduates lies far below the EU average, and studying and teaching conditions at most universities are poor.
In line with the commodification of education propagated by the EU Commission, education is now viewed merely as professional training intended to equip graduates for the workplace. Education and scholarly research are tailored to a neo-liberal vision of efficiency. Tuition fees, corporate sponsorship, and direct marketing of scientific research results to companies are supposed to replace public funding as much as possible.
But education is much more than the mere preparation of students for the labour market. That’s why the national delegation of the Austrian Students’ Union stands for an emancipatory concept of education: education must empower students to think critically and to participate actively in shaping society. At the same time, education must be freely accessible to all, regardless of background, socioeconomic circumstances, gender or age.
The Austrian Students’ Union combats both the restriction of educational access and the narrowing of the range of course offerings. We work towards the goal of open institutions of higher education that make possible democratic codetermination, interdisciplinary research and free, non-bureaucratic movement between educational institutions.
Contact and enquiries:
Please refer to your local Students’ Union delegation with any questions regarding your studies. The links to their homepages can be found here. You are, however, welcome to contact us with questions related to students’ rights— phone us, write an email, or simply stop by.
Universities and general enquiries (Please mention what and where you study):
Taubstummengasse 7-9, 1040 Vienna
Telephone: +43/1/310 88 80 - 18
Fax: +43/1/310 88 80 - 36
email: bipol@oeh.ac.at
Advising in person and by telephone:
Tues 10:00am – 1:00pm
Thurs 1:00pm – 4:00pm
No appointment necessary!
Universities for teacher education
email: PH@oeh.ac.at
Universities of applied sciences
email: FH@oeh.ac.at
Team
The members of the unit team work for the Educational Policy Unit on a volunteer basis while also pursuing their studies. The team currently includes
Juliane Soyka
Advisor for educational policy
email: juliane.soyka@oeh.ac.at
Philipp Hense
Advisor for Universities of Applied Sciences
email: philipp.hense@oeh.ac.at
Karin Pfeiffer
Legal Expert
email: karin.pfeiffer@oeh.ac.at
