Seite - 119 - in Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918 - A Social History of a Multilingual Space

Chapter 3 ♦  119 From the faculty proposal to Franz Joseph’s signature, many things could change. Below I go into more detail about how agreement on the scholar to be appointed was reached, how his position (full or associate professorship) was determined, and even how his disciplinary designation could affect things. The legal road was complex, and many factors could influence the final outcome. However, since politicians gradually accepted that universities were not a political body any more, they rarely interfered with the nominations. They did so mostly in a few special disciplines that were still considered vital for provincial and state policies. This depoliticization went hand in hand with another process, namely, the professionalization of university teachers. As I argue below, from the 1870s Habsburg scholars began to have stable careers, beginning with the achievement of habilitation and ending, if they were successful, in a professorship. This, of course, did not mean that a Privatdozent would go all the way up the ladder, but if a scholar wanted to be successful, certain steps at the right time would facilitate this. Professionalization had two se- rious repercussions. First, even renowned scholars from outside of academia had limited access to professorships if they had not habilitated. Second, professionalization strengthened linguistic boundaries because the system of rewards was bound to the language of publications. Scholars habilitat- ing at a Habsburg university had to apply with a special publication, the Habilitationsschrift (habilitation thesis). This was a book in the humanities and a serious research article in the natural sciences and medicine, written in the main teaching language of the institution the scholar intended to habilitate at. While exceptions can be found, this increased the pressure on scholars to choose early on which language they would publish in, which affected their choice of career. Habilitation between Professionalization and Patronage With the growing autonomy of the universities, the critical issue for a Habsburg scholar was the conditions of entry into universities, regulated by the laws on habilitation. It is striking that although competition for pro- motions within a given faculty was certainly fierce, career advancement (including a change of university) was rather a question of mediation, stra- tegic presentation of one’s knowledge and, of course, personal connections, although certain factors, such as a scholar’s religious denomination, impeded