Page - 46 - in Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918 - A Social History of a Multilingual Space

46 ♦  Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918 Another important change also occurred in 1848: the appointment of several Slavic scholars, especially for the chairs of Slavic languages. These included, most prominently, Franc Miklošič (Franz von Miklosich) and Jan Kollár for chairs in Vienna (the latter for Slavic archaeology), František Ladislav Čelakovský and Jan Pravoslav Koubek in Prague, and Jakiv Holovac’kyj in L’viv (for the Ukrainian language), most of whom were very likely supported by Šafárik.116 In the appointment papers for Čelakovský that were handed to the emperor, the ministry openly stated that such appointments were political, without clarifying, however, what political direction was intended.117 In this way the ministry not only supported the Austro-Slavic movement but also appointed intellectuals who were openly anti-Hungarian (Kollár and the Lutheran theologian Karol Kuzmány) or anti-Polish (Holovac’kyj). It was an important change from the policies of Vormärz, which had kept nationalists out of the universities. The inclusion of a number of Slavic scholars aimed to appease nationalist activists, but at the same time it lessened the universities’ uniting role by allowing political dissent to enter the professorship. The most important manifestation of the 1848 commitment to liberal- ism was, however, the proposal prepared by Exner during Feuchtersleben’s ministerial term. The proposal was overtly liberal and oriented to university models in other German states, but it remained true to the function and po- sition of the university in the tradition of the Vormärz. It was, in fact, built largely on the 1830s discussions about university reforms, in which Exner had had a leading role.118 According to the draft published in the govern- ment’s own Wiener Zeitung (Viennese newspaper) late in July 1848, the education system was to remain a representation of the Volk. Its main func- tion was to prepare functionaries and teachers for future careers. Universities thus represented not scholarship but the political and national needs of the provinces. Moreover, universities, Exner wrote, “are in the first place educa- tional establishments. It is of utmost importance not to impose on them any services, which would endanger their primary purpose.”119 He proposed an educational structure based on the pedagogy of Johann Friedrich Herbart, centered on gymnasia, with universities clearly subordinated to the needs of secondary education. Together with the nominee from Szczecin/Stettin, the Protestant classical philologist and educational reformer Hermann Bonitz, he also remained responsible for gymnasium curricula, which shaped sec- ondary education until the late nineteenth century.120