In 2021, the performance agreement negotiations fell into a period in which the extent of the inflation could not be estimated: “It can’t work out.” Polaschek must now “absolutely” enter into negotiations with Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP), Märk demanded.
Assumed low inflation
A budget increase of 9.5 percent had been agreed for the University of Innsbruck as part of the performance agreement negotiations for 2021, Märk informed at a press conference on Wednesday in Innsbruck. In the years 2022 to 2024, a total of 832 million euros in global budget funds would be available.
At that time, “low inflation was assumed,” Märk said. In April 2022, however, consumer prices in Austria had risen by 7.2 percent compared to the same month last year, according to Statistics Austria. Annual inflation had thus reached a new high. “It can’t work out,” commented Märk, referring to the upcoming salary negotiations in the fall and the doubling of electricity prices.
University takes positive stock for 2021
On Wednesday, the University of Innsbruck drew a positive balance for the past year despite the restrictions caused by the pandemic. Never before have there been so many publications, so many successful academic achievements and so much third-party funding as in 2021.
The balance of the University of Innsbruck is the most positive since the data was collected, says Tilmann Märk, Rector of the University of Innsbruck. According to Märk, many indicators relating to the main tasks such as teaching and research have continued to rise, “this is surprising because we were able to perform this service under difficult pandemic conditions”.
New studies offered
In the 2020/2021 academic year, over 4,300 studies were successfully completed, which is more than in previous years. The active studies would also be pursued more intensively. The fact that the courses are more attractive is partly due to the fact that new courses have been established: for example, the subject “Ethics” in the bachelor’s degree in teaching, or three new master’s courses.
Increase in third-party funds
The number of publications in top international journals also continued to rise last year, and now stands at 1,500. According to Märk, only the top research achievements would make it through the strict assessment process. It was also possible to increase the acquisition of third-party funds, “that’s somehow related”. The 56 million euros in third-party funding finance a significant part of the research.
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