Seite - 111 - in Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918 - A Social History of a Multilingual Space

Chapter 3 ♦  111 readership position.98 Since the government was legally obliged to guarantee the possibility of legal studies in Italian, especially doctoral exams in juridi- cal disciplines, a law faculty was supposed to be opened in Vienna. However, this was also hindered by protests by German nationalists.99 Finally, the “Trieste or nothing” position bore fruit. However, while both the “Tyroleans of the East” and the “Welsch-Tyroleans” had national universities promised (and budgeted) for the late 1910s, neither of these projects was realized owing to the outbreak of World War I. On the Road to Autonomy: Liberalizing Academic Policy Language policy was, of course, just one of many policies that changed in the 1860s, but its impact on both the spatial policy in the empire and the way science and scholarship were perceived is hard to underestimate. This change went hand in hand with other measures strengthening the autonomy of both universities and provinces. However, for the ministry, the empire was still one academic space, and the measures enacted for one university mattered for the others, notwithstanding the language of instruction. Now I want to turn to an analysis of how ministerial policy changed within the late nineteenth century and how the ministry dealt with the constantly changing university system—changing not only in matters of language but also in hierarchies and disciplines. The increasing academic autonomy included in the first place matters related to habilitation and the conditions of entry into academic environ- ments. Here, the ministry limited its involvement and mediated only in some contentious issues between faculties and scholars striving for ha- bilitation. Similarly, in questions of promotion, the ministry delegated its responsibility to the respective faculties, retaining, however, a deci- sive voice. While in the 1850s several scholars had applied directly to the ministry (either to the minister or to the responsible Sektionschef [section chief]) for an appointment or an increase in rank, later the ministry sent such proposals back for consultation within the faculties; it followed the recommendations of the university and did not impose its own decisions. On a few occasions, politicians intervened directly without consultation, but universities protested fiercely (including involving the press) against any limit on their independence, which was protected by law.100 Although