WIEN UNIVERSITY

Wien University has been selected by Roberto Amati in relation to the real history of european integration, then enlisted in the UNIVERSITAS category, accompanied by own fact SHEET useful to the comprehension, completed of historical MAPS AND IMAGES or with a direct linking to the related Blog contents dedicated to the aeternitas and the future of Europe.

	FOUNDATION
Year	1365 A.D.
City	Wien
Founder	Duke Rudolf IV of Austria-Stiria
Where	Duchy Austria-Stiria (Reich Empire)
Originary subjects	arts , law , medicine , theology

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	NOWADAYS
State	Austria
Name	University of Wien (Universitat Wien - Alma Mater Rudolphina Vindobonensis)
Seates	Wien city
Degree programs	every disciplines in Science and Humanity Studies
Library	Universitätsbibliothek Wien
Collegium	Duke’s , Jesuit
Alumni	UNIVIE (communities at the University of Wien)
Famous teachers	Albrecht von Rickmersdorf (von Sachsen) , Heinrich von Langenstein , Robert Bárány , Julius Wagner-Jauregg , Hans Fischer , Karl Landsteiner , Erwin Schrödinger , Victor Franz Hess , Otto Loewi , Konrad Lorenz , Friedrich Hayek , Carl Menger , Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk , Friedrich von Wieser , Joseph Schumpeter , Ludwig von Mises , Theodor W. Adorno , Alexander Van der Bellen , Manfred Bietak , Theodor Billroth , Ludwig Boltzmann , Ulrich Brand , Franz Brentano , Anton Bruckner , Rudolf Carnap , Conrad Celtes , Adrian Constantin , Viktor Frankl , Sigmund Freud , Karl Samuel Grünhut , Eduard Hanslick , Edmund Hauler , Jalile Jalil , Leon Kellner , Hans Kelsen , Adam František Kollár , Johann Josef Loschmidt , Franz Miklosich , Oskar Morgenstern , Otto Neurath , Johann Palisa , Pope Pius II , Karl Popper , Elise Richter , Baron Carl von Rokitansky , Rudolf von Scherer , Peter Schuster , August Schleicher , Moritz Schlick , Ludwig Karl Schmarda , Joseph von Sonnenfels , Josef Stefan , Olga Taussky-Todd , Hans Thirring , Walter Thirring , Walter G. Url , Leopold Vietoris , Carl Auer von Welsbach , Wilhelm Winkler
Famous scholars	Kurt Adler , Franz Alt , Wilhelm Altar , Maria Anwander , Napoleon Baniewicz , Bruno Bettelheim , Rudolf Bing , Lucian Blaga , Hedda Bolgar , Michael Brainin , Josef Breuer , F.F. Bruce , Elias Canetti , Ivan Cankar , Otto Maria Carpeaux , Friedrich Cerha , Felix Ehrenhaft , Olga Ehrenhaft-Steindler , Mihai Eminescu , Stephen Ferguson , Paul Feyerabend , Heinz Fischer , O.W. Fischer , Ivan Franko , Sigmund Freud , Adolf Albrecht Friedländer , Alcide De Gasperi , Nathan Michael Gelber , Hilda Geiringer , Kurt Gödel , Ernst Gombrich , Franz Grillparzer , Karina Grömer , Werner Gruber , Karl Samuel Grünhut , Pamela Gutman , Hans Hahn , Jörg Haider , Michael Haneke , Friedrich Hayek , Leo-Ferdinand Henckel von Donnersmarck , Theodor Herzl , Anneliese Hitzenberger , Hugo von Hofmannsthal , Edmund Husserl , Marie Jahoda , Max Jammer , Elfriede Jelinek , Percy Julian , Karl Kautsky , Elisabeth Kehrer , Leon Kellner , Hans Kelsen , Hryhoriy Khomyshyn , Jan Kickert , Rudolf Kirchschläger , Arthur Koestler , Jernej Kopitar , Karl Kordesch , Arnold Krammer , Karl Kraus , Bruno Kreisky , Richard Kuhn , Hermann F. Kvergić , Paul Lazarsfeld , Ignacy Łukasiewicz , Gustav Mahler , Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk , Lise Meitner , Gregor Mendel , Karl Menger , Franz Mesmer , Egon Orowan , Franz Miklosich , Alois Mock , Wolf-Dieter Montag , Matija Murko , Paul Niel , Joachim Oppenheim , Eduard Pernkopf , Anton Piëch , Ioan Nicolidi of Pindus , Pope Pius III , Hans Popper , Karl Popper , Otto Preminger , Wilhelm Reich , Peter Safar , Monika Salzer , Mordecai Sandberg , Mordkhe Schaechter , Karl Schenkl , Max Schloessinger , Marianne Schmidl , Andreas Schnider , Arthur Schnitzler , Albin Schram , Joseph Schumpeter , Wolfgang Schüssel , Peter Schuster , John J. Shea Jr. , Mihalj Šilobod Bolšić , Maria Simon , Felix Somary , Marian Smoluchowski , Adalbert Stifter , Countess Stoeffel , Yemima Tchernovitz-Avidar , Eric Voegelin , Maria Wähnl , Kurt Waldheim , Calvin Edouard Ward , Otto Weininger , Slavko Wolf , Eduard Zirm , Stefan Zweig , Huldrych Zwingli
Awards	11 Nobel Prize , 15 Wittgenstein Award for researchers

Wien University is among the oldest of Europe, since 1365 A.D. it has been home to people who research, teach and learn, who are full of drive and genuinely curious about each other, the world and what lies ahead. The first university founded without a king’s crown, Rudolf IV of Habsburg Duke of Austria sealed the document for the Wiennese House of Studies with the right to award doctorates in all 'permitted' sciences following the example of the University of Paris. This foundation’s confirmation followed by Pope Urban V, who however withheld his approval to a theological faculty, leaving the Wiennese studium generale without the status of a full university. A reason for this restraint may have been an intervention by Emperor Charles IV, who feared competition for the University of Prague that he had founded few years before. Apart from the theological studies, the Wien University quarter which was planned to be built between the Hofburg and the Schottentor in the Herrengasse, called 'Pfaffenstadt' ('priest city') in the founding document, was not realized. Albert of Rickensdorf was the first rector of the atheneum: he was a theologian and natural scientist originally from Saxony who had worked in Paris and later became bishop of Halberstadt. At first, the lectures were held in St. Stephen’s secondary school which was associated with the university.

The founder’s brother, Duke Albert III, expanded Wien University in 1384 A.D.: he added the Faculty of Theology and had it approved by Pope Urban VI, as well as inaugurated the first actual university building, the Duke’s College, opposite the Dominican monastery in what is today the Postgasse. There the free community of teachers and students, the universitas magistrorum et scholarium formed the organizational superstructure of the general studies, which consisted of several academic bodies: these corporations formed the 4 faculties (theology, law, medicine, artists) as teachers’ organizations, led by Deans, the 4 academic nations (Australium, Rhenensium, Ungarorum, Saxonum) as territorial organizations of the students, led by procurators, and the Duke’s College as an independent community with an elected prior at its head. The university’s collective head was the Rector Magnificus, until 1848 A.D. elected by the 4 procurators. He presided over the university’s Consistory, which exercised the university’s special jurisdiction and became the university’s highest administrational board. Other members of the Consistory were the dean of St. Stephen’s cathedral as the university chancellor, and the Landesfürst’s (prince’s) superintendent, who was responsible for the endowments, as well as the prior of the Duke’s College.

The Great Western Schism facilitated the influx of distinguished scientists who left the Parisian atheneum. For example, Heinrich Heimbuche of Langenstein, a famous theologian and natural scientist joined Wien University, who supported the university’s expansion and, together with other well-known teachers, motivated many students to come to the austrian capital. Then Duke Albert III gave the university the right to give itself statutes, regarded as the cornerstone of university autonomy, as was often mentioned in later discussions. These statutes included regulations for discipline, elections, academic officials’ duties, and rules for the study, exam and doctorate systems. Apart from the small income the university had been receiving from the Laa an der Thaya parish since 1366 A.D., the Duke mandated that the university would receive an additional yearly contribute from the tolls at Emmersdorf an der Donau: in his testament, he decreed that the University of Wien should receive an 'eternal pledge' of fund yearly from the toll at Ybbs, which his nephew, Duke William, confirmed by document in 1405 A.D., so completing the University ’s founding phase. The oldest continually existing university in the German-speaking world owes its establishment and its legal and economic security to this founding and constitutional phase.

Since its founding, Wien University has developed a wide variety of symbols and rituals, which represented it as a 'community of interests' to the outside world: besides the founding document and other rules of academic life (such as the register and statutes or the election of rectors and other university dignitaries) there were symbols such as seals, sceptres and clothing, which strengthened the sense of community in the universitas, especially in their external representation. Wien University had the highest number of students in this area: current statistics reveal, among other things, the national or regional origin of its students, with an international composition being seen a sign for a high attraction and thus for high quality of the university. The universitas magistrorum et scholarium, the community of teachers and students, was open to all Christian men born in wedlock and the entries in the Wiennese rector’s register (Matrikel) paint a rough picture of the regional composition of the university attendees: people listed were divided into academic nations, so classifying students into regional entities and calling these units nations was common practice at the universities, as is already pointed out in the founding letter. Until 1450 A.D. there were no universities in Southern and Southwestern Germany apart from Wien and there were only a few other universities in the Reich Empire: Erfurt, Heidelberg, Cologne, Leipzig and Rostock.

Wien University and its members were considered somewhat of a foreign body in the city: they had their own judicial system independent of that of the citizens and were entitled to other privileges, such as exemptions from customs and taxes. Even though the ducal capital planned by Rudolf IV of a citadel within the city separated by a wall never was realized, a university neighborhood at the Stubentor emerged in the Middle Age. The close proximity of the city’s inhabitants and the university members, who made up about 10% of the total population of medieval Wien, repeatedly led to conflicts which were resolved in various ways: some were decided in court, where the legitimacy of privileges was discussed, but some were solved in violent altercations between students and residents. this changed drastically in the 16th century when the percentage of Wiennese students rose steadily, until they formed the majority of the matriculations.

Medieval universities were clerical institutions, which is why the local bishop or a representative of his choosing had the right to supervision of the university. At most universities, this supervision was a purely formal matter or was subject to severe restrictions: in Wien the dean of St. Stephen’s cathedral held the office of university chancellor. His main capacity was to oversee exams and to grant authorization to teach to the licentiate and doctorate candidates. A serious dispute between the chancellor and the university broke out at the beginning of the 16th century, when the cathedral’s dean Paul of Oberstein demanded primacy over the rector and the right to utilize it in the course of the fight against the reformatory ideology the chancellor took control of the university members: since 1581 A.D. he accepted the graduates’ profession of faith to the Catholic Church and since 1649 A.D. he took their oath on the dogma of Mary’s Immaculate Conception. In the 18th century the chancellor’s authorities were cut by abolishing the old doctorate oath and the Catholic confession of faith and in 1873 A.D. his office was restricted to the Faculty of Catholic Theology.

In Wien University’s early years decisions were made by all doctors and licentiates: votes on business decisions were held separately by the faculties; a majority was necessary to reach a decision. Baccalarii, students and academic citizens were usually not eligible to vote and were excluded from the assemblies, except for matters of payments by the university when all atheneum members were allowed to vote. Besides the general university assembly there also was the Consistory, which at first mainly dealt with matters of jurisprudence: apart from the rector, the deans and seniors of the 4 faculties, as well as the procurators of the academic nations were members. Over time the university assembly delegated more and more business decisions to the Consistory, which in turn gained importance. Among other things, the consistory was the university contact for various royal and government offices and addressee for their decrees. The matters these decrees concerned were either directly decided upon in the Consistory or were passed on for review by the faculties. After the arbitration, the Consistory returned the results to the appropriate office. With the incorporation of the Jesuit College into Wien University and the subsequent subordination of the Faculties of Philosophy and Theology under the order’s control, the rector of the Jesuit College also received a place in the Consistory, even if he was excluded from the election of the rector actively and passively.

The reforms suggested by Gerhard van Swieten not only led to massive changes in teaching, but also in the administration. Besides changes in the faculties’ leadership and the university’s financial administration, its leadership was also affected by this: the Consistory, until that point responsible for the whole of the university administration was divided up into two institutions in 1752 A.D.. The 'Consistory for legal matters' consisted of the rector and the procurator from the Faculty of Law (either the incumbent or a former procurator), the dean, as well as 6 advocates appointed by the local sovereign, who served as assessors: so, the Wien University’s civil and criminal legal cases were adjudicated and the 'regular Consistory', whose members included the rector, the faculties’ study directors as well as the deans, seniors and procurators, was responsible for all other matters. This division became redundant with the abolition of the university jurisprudence in 1784 A.D. and in the 19th century the reforms initiated by Leo Graf Thun-Hohenstein again led to profound changes in the organization of the academic authorities, which also affected Wien university leadership. The most important changes concerned the rector’s election and the Consistory’s composition, which was more often being called the 'academic senate': with the abolition of the academic nations in 1849 A.D. the Rector could no longer be elected by the procurators so the consistory stepped in as the voting authority.

The reforms of the 18th century brought about an orientation of academic studies towards their usefulness and practicality for the functions of the State: the expansion of the absolutist state with its bureaucratic institutions and central authorities required officials that were professionally qualified and loyal to the ruler. Rigid state control of the universities in the period of Restauration after the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars led to the danger of disconnecting university teaching from international scientific development. Only with the proclamation of freedom of teaching and study and the Thun-Hohenstein educational reforms in 1849/50, science and research became the university’s central tasks next to teaching. These new conditions led to an unexpected development of intellectual resources which in turn helped Wien University in gain international renown in various scientific disciplines. Representative for this is the development of Wiennese scientific 'schools', for example in medicine, national economy or art history.

For decades, Austrian universities were shaped by the reforms of the 19th century but at the end of the 20th century a new dynamic set in that led to radical restructuring under the banner of university autonomy with the Universitätsgesetz (university law) of 2002 A.D.. For more than 80 years, with the exception of the Nazi era, the structures of the Austrian universities were shaped by the law on the organization of academic authorities established in 1873 A.D.: it had abolished the last remnants of the medieval corporation constitution with the removal of the faculty-doctorate councils from the university organization. The conversion into a 'university of tenured professors' started after 1848 A.D. thus became definitive and until late XX century the leadership of the universities lay almost exclusively with the professors. However, the universities still were state institutions with a restricted autonomous area of competence.

The Universitätsgesetz of 2002 A.D. achieved a complete organizational restructuring. The university’s legal status changed fundamentally: a part legally responsible institute of the state became a fully responsible legal entity under public law with full legal capacity, so Wien University received control over the personnel and the budget, and the state constrained itself to legal supervision. A new institution was the University Council, which is one of the highest administrative bodies next to the rectorate and the senate. The Faculty of Medicine that had existed since the university’s foundation was newly established as the Medical University of Wien. Because of this reform, entrepreneurial principles became important for the university leadership: the goal became to improve the universities’ ability to act in such a way that they could strategically design their tasks in research and teaching and constantly improve them. In keeping with the principles of public governance and New Public Management those tasks should no longer be implemented via state decrees, but instead on the basis of performance agreements between university and ministry, thus ensuring a flexible, performance- and quality-oriented autonomous approach. An intellectual capital statement by the university serves as an instrument for observation and control.

The University of Wien ranking among the top 100, is a place of interaction, critical thinking and ideas that change our society. This atheneum is one of the top research universities in Europe, thanks to a strong international profile and its excellent academic work, outstanding places in global rankings and numerous prestigious awards, including the 2022 A.D. Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Anton Zeilinger, emeritus professor at the Wien atheneum. Nowadays it is one of the most internationally renowned research universities and all its faculties are classified within the 100 top world universities by the QS World University Rankings.

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In the same city are open other 3 universities: the Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, the Wiener Neustadt Theresan Military Academy and the Diplomatische Akademie Wien.

The Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien was founded in 1688 A.D. by Peter Strudel, court and chamber painter to Emperor Leopold I, as a private academy. Earliest mention of the Academy's official recognition by the Emperor, it is thus the oldest art academy in Central Europe and lessons were held in Peter Strudel's private residence near Währinger Straße. When he died, the Academy was temporarily closed down but reestablished in 1762 A.D. as Imperial Court Academy, a public institution under Emperor Charles VI, with chamber painter Jacob van Schuppen as prefect. The new school was accommodated in Van Schuppen's apartment in Kärntner Straße: its curriculum included painting, sculpture, architecture, and engraving. In 1772 A.D. State Chancellor Wenzel Anton Prince Kaunitz united all of the then-extant art schools within the k.k. freye, vereinigte Akademie der bildenden Künste, today's Academy of Fine Arts: the Imperial and Royal Court Academy of Painters, Sculptors and Architects, the Imperial and Royal Engraving Academy, as well as the Engravers' and Ore Cutters' School, and later on, the Commercial Drawing School.

The year after the library, which until 2003 A.D. also included a print room, was first mentioned in records. 10 years later Emperor Joseph II decreed that all craftsmen take their master's exam at the Academy and present their masterpiece. Drawing lessons at ordinary schools were placed under the supervision of the Academy, which put forth the candidates for the position of drawing teachers. In 1800 A.D. the Academy was placed under the supervision of an Imperial 'curator', who had been the famous State Chancellor Clemens Wenzel von Metternich for almost 40 years. In 1822 A.D. Count Anton Lamberg-Sprinzenstein's bequest laid the foundation for the picture gallery, comprising primarily works by Rubens, Van Dyck and 17th-century Netherlandish painters and some years later Georg Ferdinand Waldmüller was appointed first curator of it. In 1872 A.D., according to a statute passed by Emperor Francis Joseph I, the Academy was turned into a Hochschule (college): from then on, its rector was elected and it disposed of a faculty of professors. In 1935 A.D. happened the foundation of the Department of Conservation and Technology, while the next year was introduced the new master course of Scenography. Immediately after the Austria’s 'Anschluss' to the III German Reich, an interim management was appointed: both the teaching and the administrative staff were purged, and numerous students were excluded from their studies.

In 1941 A.D. Art education was introduced as a master course and classes were resumed in the severely damaged building in Schillerplatz in April 1945 A.D. under the provisional rector Herbert Boeckl and 10 years later the Academy Organization Act provided for scientific departments supplementing tuition in master courses. In 1998 A.D. under the Art Academy Organization Act, the Art Academy was de jure turned into a university, but retained its name Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien and the 2002 University Organization Act provided for the Academy's legal autonomy, with the rector, vice-rectors, academic senate, and university council put in charge of its operation. In 2010 A.D. there had been the establishment of the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Practice program and in period 2011–2019 Eva Blimlinger, together with Vice-Rectors Andrea B. Braidt and Karin Riegler, served as the first female Rector in the history of the Academy.

The Theresian Military Academy (known as the Theresianum) is one of the oldest military academies in the world (the oldest is the Military Academy of Modena): it was founded in 1751 A.D. by Emperess Maria Theresa, who gave the first commander of the academy to Field Marshal Leopold Joseph von Daun the order Mach er mir tüchtige Officier und rechtschaffene Männer daraus ('Make me hard working officers and honest men'). For years, the academy accepted 100 noblemen and 100 commoners to start their education there and the Prince of Styria Erzherzog Johann (Archduke John) has been the principal headmaster of the academy for 44 years (1805–1849). During the First Republic of Austria (1918–1938), the academy was located in Enns until 1934 A.D. and then again in the castle of Wiener Neustadt. A very remarkable event occurred in the time between Austrofascism and the Anschluss (Occupation of Austria by Nazi Germany) when Lieutenant General Rudolf Towarek was Commander of the TherMilAk: he had the guard deployed with the bayonet attached and thus denied the Wehrmacht access to the castle for several days. This was the only military resistance made by Austrians against the occupation by Nazi Germany.

After the Anschluss, the Wehrmacht installed a war school for non-commissioned officers at the castle of Wiener Neustadt: the first commander of this school has beenErwin Rommel. At that time, the Germans erected a new building next to the castle, which is now known as Fort Daun, in which the Military High School of Austria is located. After World War II and the Austrian State Treaty signed in 1955 A.D., the demolished castle was rebuilt and the military academy was again located in Wiener Neustadt. On the occasion of its 500th anniversary of the death of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, the so-called 'last knight' and founder of a modern war system, a big celebration took place in the church of the military academy in 2019 A.D.. Within the precincts of the Theresian Military Academy is the Theresian Military Academy Cemetery where many students, former teachers and distinguished graduates are buried: officers interred there include Count Kinsky, Oskar Potiorek and Emil Spannocchi, as well as Thérèse de Dillmont whose father taught at the academy. From 1997–2008, the TherMilAk was a 4-year college which could also be attended by civilian students and finished with a master's degree in military leadership, then it was changed into a 3-year curriculum, graduating with a bachelor's degree.

The Diplomatic Academy of Wien, also known as the School of International Studies, is a postgraduate professional school based in the Austrian capital with focused training for students and professionals in the areas of international affairs, political science, law, languages, history and economics. It is the oldest diplomatic academy in the world! Moreover it is an affiliate member school of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs in Austria. The academy was originally established by Empress Maria Theresa in 1754 A.D. as the Oriental Academy, for the purpose of training young diplomats to represent the Habsburg Empire abroad. After centuries it has been closed by the German Nazi occupational forces in 1941 A.D. and officially returned to the status of a diplomatic academy by the serving social democratic foreign minister Bruno Kreisky in 1964 A.D.: the first director during the 'cold war' was the American Historian Ernst Florian Winter. The school was renamed multiple times and reorganized over the centuries, and it eventually gained independent public institution status in 1996 A.D. :nowadays it confers PhD degrees, Master's degrees and postgraduate diplomas upon its graduates and offers graduate degrees only. Students may choose to pursue a two-year program that leads towards either a Master of Advanced International Studies (MAIS, or M.A.I.S., a masters's degree exclusively awarded for the completion of a postgraduate program at the Diplomatic Academy of Wien) or a Master of Science in Environmental Technology and International Affairs (MSc ETIA) degree.

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