Page - 257 - in Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918 - A Social History of a Multilingual Space

Chapter 7 ♦  257 a once and current Slovakia.”66 That the Czechoslovak activist and historian then criticized the conservatism and traditionalism of Slovak political elites, and employed the arguments of a Czech civilizing mission toward Slovaks, might have contributed to the nonacceptance problem. Given the lack of Slovakian universities before the creation of the new state and the Czechoslovak policy of the government, it was thus not surprising that Prague was also the faculty at which the vast majority of Bratislava’s scholars had been educated. In the academic year 1924–25, nine out of twelve full professors and four out of five associate professors at the medical faculty were Prague graduates.67 At the philosophical faculty, only two scholars had carried out their studies predominantly abroad, and they taught Ruthenian and Russian history and literature, respectively.68 The law faculty’s scholars had all habilitated in Prague after 1919. In this way, with few exceptions, the implementation of Czech cultural policy in Slovakia meant that the scholarly habitus of the University of Prague was transferred east, with Bratislava thus coming under the influence of the Cisleithanian principles of higher education. The transfer, or domination, of Cisleithanian knowledge had its drawbacks as well. This was notable especially in the law faculty, which guaranteed that students of Elizabeth University and of the law faculty in Košice/Kassa could take their exams according to the Hungarian rules, which would also include Hungarian-specific subject matter. This resulted in problems, since the new professors were not familiar with Hungarian legislation. In this case, they had expertise in Cisleithanian law and had addi- tionally to learn and teach the Hungarian and Czechoslovak legal systems.69 Another drawback was the lack of extensive experience abroad on the part of most of the scholars nominated to Bratislava. Since most nom- inees were young Privatdozenten, this had a long-lasting effect. While two scholars, Vinzenz Chlumský and Ján Buchtala, had previously worked outside the new state, both were, after 1918, acknowledged as pioneers in their disciplines and recognized as the founders of their respective schools in Czechoslovakia.70 While Prague scholars also predominated at Brno’s Masaryk University (established in 1919), the faculty was more diversified there. Similarly, in Bratislava mostly younger scholars were appointed, as well as, in the medical faculty, several local practitioners. One exception was the faculty of sciences, which employed three professors with substantial experience abroad, two of whom had been active mostly in Switzerland. At other faculties, only shorter stays abroad can be noted. In comparison with