Free university education under poor conditions

The abolition of tuition fees in Austria from next summer semester on will not be a boon for social justice in the country, the daily Die Presse writes: "A particularly grotesque aspect of the current situation is that polytechnics will be allowed to charge fees as well as impose limits on courses of study. And despite, or perhaps precisely for this reason, they, as well as private institutions some of which charge very high fees, are experiencing a sharp rise in demand for places. The fact is that the 'no-barriers' free university education model cannot make up for the lacking infrastructure at universities, the overcrowded auditoriums and invisible teaching staff. Such problems will only intensify as a result of the recently decided and totally nonsensical increase in the number of medical students. After all, one can't simply extend the 'patient population' for these training courses at will. ... Thanks for easing the burden of the middle classes, but couldn't one have found a more sensible approach?"

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