Elisabeth Gehrer

Elisabeth Gehrer (2006)

Elisabeth Gehrer (born May 11, 1942 in Vienna ; née Pokorny) is a politician of the ÖVP and was Austrian Federal Minister for Education, Science and Culture in the federal governments Vranitzky IV to Schüssel II between 1995 and 2007 .

Life

In 1949 Elisabeth Pokorny moved with her parents from Vienna to Innsbruck , where she attended grammar school and the teacher training college . After completing her training, she worked from 1961 to 1964 as a primary school teacher in Hart in the Zillertal and then for two years at the Lochau primary school . In 1964 she married Fritz Gehrer, moved to Bregenz and initially retired from professional life in 1966; The marriage has three sons, including ORF presenter Stefan Gehrer .

In 1980 Gehrer began her political work for the ÖVP as a city councilor for music and regional cooperation in Bregenz, and one year later became chairwoman of the regional planning association for Lake Constance. She moved into the Vorarlberg state parliament in 1984, became chairwoman of the ÖVP club in the city council of Bregenz in 1989 and vice-president of the state parliament in the same year. In 1990 she was sent to the Vorarlberg state government , where she was responsible for the areas of school, further education, science, women, youth, family, community development, energy saving and development aid. In addition, she was appointed as the incumbent president of the state school board and from 1994 was the state director of women in the ÖVP-Vorarlberg.

In 1995 Elisabeth Gehrer was appointed Federal Minister for Education and Cultural Affairs in the Federal Government Vranitzky IV , a coalition of the SPÖ under Federal Chancellor Franz Vranitzky and the ÖVP under Vice Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel , and in autumn 1995 she was also appointed Federal Deputy Chairman of the ÖAAB , the workers' organization of the ÖVP, elected. As Federal Minister, she then also belonged to the governments of Vranitzky V (SPÖ / ÖVP, 1996 to 1997), Klima (SPÖ / ÖVP, 1997 to 2000), as well as Schüssel I (ÖVP / FPÖ , 2000 to 2003), and Schüssel II (ÖVP / FPÖ - BZÖ , 2003 to 2007); from 2000 as Federal Minister for Education, Science and Culture . In addition, from 1999 Gehrer was deputy party chairwoman of the ÖVP.

On October 5, 2006, four days after the ÖVP's poor performance in the National Council election , Gehrer made public that he would not accept her seat in the National Council and that he would give up all political offices by swearing in the next government, which happened on January 11, 2007.

Political priorities

Science / University

Expansion of technical colleges

The expansion of the technical colleges was a focus of Gehrer's educational policy. Universities of applied sciences offer professional training at a scientific level and thus complement the academic training programs offered by universities. The goal was 33,000 FH students by 2010. The Council of Ministers decided to set up universities of applied sciences in January 1993 at the request of Science Minister Erhard Busek, and the National Council passed the law a little later. In 1994, 674 Austrians began training at a university of applied sciences. In the winter semester 2005/2006, 25,727 people studied at a technical college, 42 percent of them women. More than 200 courses offer training in various practical directions.

University reform

In 2001, Gehrer introduced tuition fees of ATS 5,000 (€ 363.36) per semester. On August 9, 2002, the 2002 University Act, initiated by Elisabeth Gehrer, was announced. This aimed to strengthen the Austrian universities for international competition. The universities were converted from federal institutions with partial legal capacity into legal entities under public law with full legal capacity . They were given extensive independence, among other things, in the areas of personnel, internal organization and focus formation. The electoral method for appointing university executives was changed from the election by the university assembly to the principle of double legitimation. A large number of decision-making competencies were shifted from committees made up of tripartite members to individual responsible persons in order to create faster management structures. Among other things, tripartite, Bologna-compliant studies were introduced, which include the bachelor's degree as the first degree. These go back to the 1999 agreement of the EU states on the harmonization of study forms in the "Bologna Declaration". Critics of the university reform complained that the financial situation of the universities had deteriorated and demanded higher funding over several years.

Institute for Science and Technology - Austria

Main article: Institute for Science and Technology Austria

On the initiative of the Viennese experimental physicist Anton Zeilinger , the concept of an “elite university” was drawn up, in which scientists should conduct scientific and technical research at the highest level. In February 2006, Elisabeth Gehrer decided in favor of the Maria Gugging location near Klosterneuburg after being assessed by the German Center for University Development, the consulting firm McKinsey and the Institute for Spatial Planning because of the high level of financial participation by the State of Lower Austria. Zeilinger, who disagreed with the decision-making process, then resigned his work. On March 29, 2006, the Institute for Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) was passed in the National Council with the votes of the governing parties (ÖVP / BZÖ) and the opposition SPÖ. In the meantime Anton Zeilinger has returned to the project and has accepted a seat on the ISTA Board of Trustees because politics has withdrawn and the “car is going in the right direction”.

Pedagogical academies and colleges of education

In 1998, on Gehrer's initiative, the Academic Studies Act, which came into force on September 1, 1999, was passed. The aim of the reform was to further develop basic, advanced and advanced training for compulsory school teachers. As provided for in this law, the “Higher Education Act 2005” (Federal Law Gazette I 30/2006) was subsequently passed in 2006. On October 1, 2007, the new teacher training colleges began their work. The main changes were that the 54 institutions that had existed until 2007 were merged into 14 universities. In addition, graduates from universities of teacher education receive the title of bachelor's degree .

Culture

Federal museums

With the Federal Museums Act 1998, Elisabeth Gehrer set the course for the transformation of the federal museums into fully legal, scientific institutions. Along with extensive construction spending these were thus the basis for the increase in visitor numbers from 2.36 million in 1995 to 3.45 million in 2005. Under Gehrer in 1999 the Technical Museum in Vienna , 2003, the Albertina and 2005, the Palais Mollard as part the Austrian National Library with Globe Museum and Esperanto Museum reopened. The sandstone facades of the Museum of Art History and the Museum of Natural History , the Museum of Applied Arts , the Austrian Gallery Belvedere and the Museum of Ethnology have all been renovated .

Museum Quarter

After more than 15 years of discussion, Gehrer broke ground in 1998 for the construction of the Museum Quarter in Vienna. The opening took place in 2001. With 50 cultural institutions, the MQ is one of the ten largest cultural complexes in the world and is a cultural meeting point for over 2.5 million people every year.

Monument protection

In 1999 there was a comprehensive amendment to the Monument Protection Act.

Return of expropriated works of art

Although Maria Altmann and her co-heirs demanded the return of works of art expropriated during the Nazi era (keyword: Gustav Klimt ), Elisabeth Gehrer, on behalf of the Austrian state, took a formal position that would only prove untenable after the establishment of an international arbitration tribunal. The solution to the problem was not achieved until 2006. Altmann's earlier willingness to negotiate whether the pictures should remain in Vienna was withdrawn after Gehrer's behavior. The paintings were therefore ultimately withdrawn from Austria.

school

Abolition of 2/3 majority for school laws

A particularly far-reaching measure in terms of school law under Elisabeth Gehrer was the abolition of the necessary 2/3 majority in the National Council for changes to the School Organization Act (SchOG) and the School Education Act (SchUG). As a result of this, legislative proposals in the National Council were blocked several times in the past. Important principles such as the exemption from school fees were secured by separate constitutional provisions.

Vocational matriculation examination

Gehrer followed the introduction of the vocational maturity test. In 1997, the National Council created the necessary legal basis for this, enabling people who have completed an apprenticeship to continue their training in Austria efficiently and in a time-saving manner with the Matura. Gehrer closed a gap in the permeability of the Austrian education system.

School autonomy

Another focus was the expansion of school autonomy . Schools were given the opportunity to set their own priorities in the lesson tables; in addition to the compulsory core material, space was also created in the curricula for their own deepening and additions (extension area). For school life, school partners (parents-teachers and, in secondary schools, pupil-representatives) were given the opportunity to negotiate rules themselves within the framework of behavioral agreements. However, school autonomy in Austria is still rather poorly developed in a European comparison.

School construction and school infrastructure

Over 30,000 additional training positions were created at secondary schools during Gehrer's tenure. The focus was on higher vocational schools. Equipping all schools with computers, connecting to the Internet and introducing notebook classes also fell during her term of office.

School quality focus

Gehrer stuck to the growing, differentiated school system and concentrated her political work on increasing the quality of school and teaching. In addition to the modernization and streamlining of all curricula, the development of educational standards, the establishment of the Federal Institute for Educational Research , Innovation and Education Development (BIFIE), “Quality in Schools” Q. i. S., “Innovations in Mathematics, Science and Technology Teaching” (IMST) and the “Lesefit” initiative, results of Gehrer's work.

Reduced compulsory hours

In 2003, Elisabeth Gehrer reduced the number of compulsory hours in the secondary schools and in the middle and high schools by one to two hours a week, after student organizations and educational scientists had previously protested against the excessive time burden for children and adolescents in schools . After the "relief ordinance", the minister was criticized primarily by the AHS teachers' union, many parents and the opposition parties, who saw the reduction in mandatory hours as a saving measure. Due to the reduction in compulsory hours, fewer additional teachers had to be employed in relation to the increasing number of pupils in higher schools. At the compulsory schools, the reduction in the number of teaching staff did not change anything.

Educational documentation

In 2002, at Gehrer's instigation, the Education Documentation Act (BILDOK) was passed, which provides that the data relevant to education policy, such as school success, attendance of bilingual classes or use of afternoon care, but no data such as grades or behavioral instructions, the education register or the education record, for example central database, and stored there for 60 years.

This was seen by many as unjustified invasion of privacy, criticism came among others from the Greens , the Confederation of Austrian parents' associations, the Initiative of Critical Students and the ARGE data . For this, Gehrer received a Big Brother Award between 2002 and 2004 . The Lifetime Achievement category was renamed the Lifelong Nuisance Elisabeth Gehrer Prize in 2004 for the most sustainable approach to the novel in 1984 .

With reference to the constitutional provisions on data protection, the Data Protection Commission demanded that this data could only be stored centrally if the social security numbers , which were queried as indicators for the creation of educational progress statistics, were not encrypted in a traceable manner beforehand . Although this was done, concerns remained that improper use of the educational documentation could not be ruled out. This led to massive protests, and many parents refused to disclose their children's social security numbers. The ARGE Daten association expressed particularly sharp criticism . Gehrer's successor, Claudia Schmied, announced that she would amend the Education Documentation Act in order to close possible security gaps.

Religious matters

Recognition of the Coptic Church

On her initiative, the Coptic Orthodox Church in Austria was recognized in 2003 as a recognized church with all the rights and obligations resulting therefrom in Austria, whereby for the area of ​​the Oriental Orthodox Churches (Armenian Orthodox Church, Syrian Orthodox Church and Coptic Orthodox Church) set up a parity church commission for certain areas of external legal relationships for the first time. The Oriental Orthodox Church Law (Federal Law Gazette I No. 20/2003) circumvented the ten-year observation period as a denominational community provided for in the Confessional Community Act for the Coptic Church, which all other religious communities in Austria seeking recognition must wait.

Reorganization of the system of recognition of churches and religious societies

In 1997, she made a new regulation of the legal status of churches and religious societies. The legal status of the already recognized religious communities remained untouched, but new recognitions were made almost impossible. The newly created legal position as a religious denominational community does not bring any further advantages apart from the acquisition of legal personality. The new legal situation was also applied retrospectively to all applications for recognition that had already been submitted, some of which had remained pending in the ministry for years. Critics at home and abroad see this as a violation of the principle of equality and freedom of religion.

International ratings

PISA

The results of the first PISA study in 2001, in which Austria took part on Gehrer's initiative, placed the local pupils in 11th place (upper third). However, the 2004 study diagnosed a crash to 19th place (average). As a review carried out by statistical experts from the OECD showed, the performance in 2001 was incorrectly presented due to incorrect weighting and should have led to a result similar to that in 2004. The often mentioned “crash” of the Austrian PISA results did not occur.

OECD Education Policy Report 2006

On September 12, 2006, the report “Education at a Glance” by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD ) was published. Austria had "fallen further behind compared to other OECD countries despite certain efforts in training highly qualified people". In the meantime, both the far too low rate of growth in university degrees and the insufficient number of new students have meant that Austria has fallen behind all OECD member countries. Turkey alone trains even fewer academics than Austria, which the OECD describes as “almost the bottom of the league in higher education”.

"If you take the number of first-year students and the financial resources for higher education, then it seems questionable that Austria can quickly make up for this gap," says the report. The dropping back becomes clear in a direct comparison: The rate of first-year students in Austria rose only slightly from 33 to 37% of a year between 2000 and 2004 (the average of the OECD countries, however, rose from 44 to 53% in the same period). The author of the study, Andreas Schleicher , is pessimistic: "Austria will not be able to meet the increasing need for well-trained skilled workers like this." Expenditures for tertiary education would also stagnate at 1.1% of the gross domestic product (OECD average: 1.4%) . While almost all OECD countries have increased their education expenditure, in Austria their share has fallen sharply in recent years. In 2003, the share of education expenditure in GDP (public and private expenditure) in Austria was 5.5%, well below the OECD average of 5.9%. In 1995, at 6.1%, it was still well above the OECD average (5.4).

The traditionally high proportion of people in the 25- to 64-year-old resident population who have completed training beyond compulsory schooling was positively noted (Austria: 80%, OECD average: 64%). The child-care ratio (teacher-student ratio) in Austria was 15.1, above the OECD average, as was the educational expenditure. However, the OECD found that overall spending on education fell slightly despite the increase in federal funds. Austria achieved good ranking values ​​for IT equipment in schools and in vocational training. In previous studies, Austria, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse and Switzerland have already criticized the fact that in this regard, the OECD comparison does not take into account the specifics of the highly developed higher vocational training in these countries.

reception

Elisabeth Gehrer was very unpopular as a minister, especially at the end of her term of office, in the first APA / OGM trust index for federal politicians in 2006, Gehrer came third-worst, ahead of Heinz-Christian Strache ( FPÖ ) and Jörg Haider ( BZÖ ).

Her qualifications were also called into question, as she only had a non-university education as an elementary school teacher and, as a minister, was also responsible for the entire university area. (Compare nickname " Strickliesel ") The reforms carried out under their aegis are also only tailored to the interests of business lobbies.

Elisabeth Gehrer has received the Big Brother Award three times in the “Lifelong Nuisance” category.

Tuition fees, outsourcing and reduction of hours

Numerous controversial reforms were carried out under the leadership of Minister Gehrer, including a reduction in hours at Austrian schools and the introduction of tuition fees . The outsourcing of the Austrian universities was also criticized by the opposition and the universities because the financial situation of the universities visibly deteriorated.

Statement on the generation conflict

In August 2003, Elisabeth Gehrer said in an interview with the daily newspaper Die Presse : “As I understand it, the older generation has fulfilled the generation contract. She took care of her parents and she had children. ” Now we should publicly discuss what the boys' job is. “Children are the best way to secure the future, you have to talk about that. What makes life worth living For example, when you rush from party to party, is it the single life? ” This quote was reduced to the slogan“ Children instead of parties ”, gave Gehrer severe criticism and caused an emotional discussion of values ​​in Austria. The slogan “Children instead of parties” was chosen as the motto of the year 2003 by 1,100 journalists and private individuals.

Awards

• 2000: Order of El Sol del Perú
• 2004: Great Golden Decoration on Ribbon for Services to the Republic of Austria

Web links

Commons : Elisabeth Gehrer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Elisabeth Gehrer on the website of the Austrian Parliament
• Archive recordings with Elisabeth Gehrer in the online archive of the Austrian Media Library (exhibition openings, symposia, radio interviews)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ derStandard.at - Stefan Gehrer: "dry lectures" . Article dated October 7, 2003, accessed September 19, 2015.
2. ↑ Who is Who in Austria: Mag. Stefan Gehrer ( Memento of the original from September 19, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved September 19, 2015.  
3. ^ FH Development Plan III, 2004
4. ↑ Federal Law Gazette No. 340/1993
5. ↑ http://www.fhr.ac.at/ ( Memento from June 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) August 21, 2007
6. ↑ University Act 2002 in the version of August 9, 2002, Federal Law Gazette I No. 120/2002
7. ^ Kostal, Mario: Universitätsgesetz 2002, Wien / Salzburg 2002, p. 53
8. ^ Kostal, Mario: Universities Act 2002, Vienna and Salzburg 2002, p. 15 ff.
9. ↑ Elite University: Evaluation of the location proposals completed; APA January 17, 2006
10. ↑ Location selection for elite university leads to Zeilinger withdrawal - TM; APA February 2, 2006
11. ↑ ORF-Radio-Mittagsjournal, June 20, 2006
12. ^ Report of the Culture Committee on the 1995 Culture Report; 632 of the supplements to the stenographic minutes of the National Council XX. GP
13. ^ Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture, Section IV: Culture Report 2005, p. 8; Vienna 2007
14. ↑ See: www.mqw.at, July 21, 2007
15. ↑ Two-thirds majority for school laws falls - AM; APA May 4, 2005
16. ↑ The SPÖ and ÖVP decided to take the vocational maturity test; APA, April 30, 1997
17. ↑ Curriculum at http://www.bmukk.gv.at/schulen/unterricht , August 21, 2007
18. ↑ National Council: Stripped-down behavioral agreement adopted; APA, June 8, 2001
19. ↑ See e.g. E.g. Gehrer: Motto in the education sector - Quality is the goal, APA, January 27, 2006
20. ↑ Pupils demonstrate in Vienna for shorter working hours - unionized girls and boys want to hold out in front of the Ministry of Education until Friday; APA, May 26, 1999
21. ↑ "According to a broadcast by the AKS, the newly appointed AHS state school spokesman named the installation of an independent student advocate, the reduction of working hours for students and the commitment to state-funded education as central concerns for his term of office". In: New Vienna State School Spokesperson elected; APA, June 25, 2002
22. ↑ AKS: Shortening working hours for schoolchildren - New OECD study confirms AKS call for a reduction in working hours for schoolchildren; OTS, October 30, 2002
23. ↑ “(...) that a large number of scientific studies have criticized the high working hours of students in schools, including the study by Ferdinand Eder, the studies by Christiane Spiel from 1999 and 2002 and, most recently, the evaluation of the youth studies by Dr. .-Brunmayr-Institutes ", said Vecsey" In: Vecsey: Schülerunion criticizes discussion about student relief; APA, May 2, 2003
24. ↑ “If you add up the teaching time and the time spent at home, their working hours are far higher than that of adults (...). This was the result of a study on the subject of "Overstrained by school", which Christiane Spiel, professor at the Institute for Psychology at the University of Graz, carried out in collaboration with the Vienna City School Board ”. In: AHS students are overwhelmed, APA, November 15, 1996
25. ↑ Education Documentation Ordinance in the version of 24 October 2003, BGBl. II Nr. 499/2003
26. ↑ [1]
27. ↑ http://homepage.univie.ac.at/franz.martin.wimmer/se0102arbschmitten.pdf
28. ↑ http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/3/59/36892238.pdf , August 20, 2007
29. ↑ “In both 2000 and 2003, Austria landed in the middle of reading and mathematics, according to Erich Neuwirth from the University of Vienna. (...) The reason for these discrepancies are sample bias and other statistical evaluations. " In: PISA study: No crash, already worse than expected in 2000, APA, June 7, 2006
30. ↑ [2] , August 21, 2007
31. ↑ Joint press release by the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Education Directors, Austria, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse and Bavaria ( Memento of January 8, 2004 in the Internet Archive ), September 17, 2003
32. ↑ Stenographic Protocol of the National Council , p. 136, March 21, 2000
33. ↑ bigbrotherawards.at
34. ^ Die Presse, August 23, 2003
35. ^ Die Presse , December 18, 2003, p. 10
36. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)