Page - 92 - in Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918 - A Social History of a Multilingual Space

92 ♦  Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918 The creation of the Unterrichtsrath exhibited a strong continuity with Thun-Hohenstein’s ideological ideals, and the few key decisions it made were in line with the ministerial policies of the 1850s. Liberal scholars criticized its members for coming from the conservative Catholic end of the academic spectrum and for preferring even more conservative policies than Thun-Hohenstein had.5 Some decisions clearly support that view, and sometimes the Unterrichtsrath commented on issues beyond the scholarly achievements of the candidates. Like Thun-Hohenstein, it also discussed the methodology that the scholars in question applied, favoring conservative epistemologies. For instance, according to one of the records from 1865, Josef Bayer’s habilitation for “Aesthetics and the Newer History of German Literature” not only combined a philosophical and a philological discipline in a problematic way but also applied the “wrong” methodology: to habili- tate, he should have applied an “analytical and historical” approach.6 While the humanities remained under the eye of other ministers of education, none scrutinized them so deeply as Thun-Hohenstein and Unterrichtsrath did in regard to methodological matters. During the four years of the Unterrichtsrath’s existence, there were few appointments and habilitations, apart from those made necessary by lan- guage changes at the universities; the initial phase of the faculty change had been completed under Thun, and no alterations in the curriculum required additional personnel. The most serious problem of the 1860s, the relocation of scholars after the language changes in Cracow and Pest, had mostly been solved before the Unterrichtsrath was established. Just over thirty professors, predominantly from Pest, changed their place of teaching within a few years in the single most intensive migration wave in Habsburg university history. Graz profited the most from the relocated scholars, although it was rarely their first choice.7 Because releasing permanent professors from the civil service was difficult, the government intended to relocate them imme- diately to other universities to support teaching.8 Although the universities were consulted about the candidates to be relocated, some appointments took place despite the faculties’ opposition.9 Even negative opinions from the Unterrichtsrath did not count for much.10 Unsurprisingly, these reloca- tions followed markedly nationalistic patterns, with universities even letting go of local scholars they considered unacceptable for linguistic reasons.11 Those marked as foreigners could not stay even if they promised to learn the appropriate language.12