Page - 270 - in Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918 - A Social History of a Multilingual Space

270 ♦  Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918 liberal Young Czech scholars, the latter educated mostly outside of Bohemia, not only proved revolutionary in academia but also led to the revision of the idea of the Czech nation. International mobility does not, however, necessarily lead to exceed- ing quality. In fact, German-language Habsburg universities were most successful and influential in precisely those disciplines characterized by continuity and the formation of stable research traditions, such as the medical sciences, biology, art history, Slavic philology, and philosophy.3 Imported scholars were scarce in these disciplines, albeit in some cases cru- cial at their beginnings. This does not mean, however, that scholars in these disciplines did not migrate within the empire. Scholars circulated between Innsbruck and Chernivtsi, traversing linguistic boundaries at times, but all within the borders of the Habsburg Empire. In fact, students’ networks allowed these schools to thrive, for instance, in Slavic philology, where the Viennese doyens Franz von Miklosich/Franc Miklošič and Vatroslav Jagić enjoyed networks of correspondence that helped them in their comparatist endeavors. Mobility, Confessional Geography, and the Urban Sphere The mobility of Habsburg scholars contributed to the intellectual develop- ment of the empire, but its impact on individual careers varied. It seems that at German-language universities in the Habsburg Empire, mobility was a synonym for scholarly excellence after 1900, and faculties grew more and more hesitant about home nominations (Hausberufungen). But this re- quirement of mobility strongly disadvantaged a group that was for political reasons prevented from moving, namely, Jewish scholars. Their exclusion was an outcome of the Cisleithanian universities’ meandering between lib- eralism and Catholicism but at the same time of a structural problem in the system of academic career advancement. And it had, unexpectedly, a tremendous impact on the cultural thriving of cities, in particular Vienna. University policy in the Habsburg Empire remained a political issue throughout the long nineteenth century, from the 1880s falling victim to an extremism-prone “studentocracy” 4 and a general deadlock of reforms in the monarchy. Early appointments by Franz Stadion in 1848 included promotions of liberal and Slavic scholars to both provincial universities and the University of Vienna, clearly an outcome of the 1848 revolution and