Vienna Uni: Budget deficit shocker

The University of Vienna finished the last academic year with an unexpected deficit of 15 million Euros.

Rector Heinz Engl said it had budgeted for a loss of 8 million but that the Constitutional Court’s decision to suspend student fees had blown the budget to pieces.

The university had a positive balance in 2010 and finished 2011 on a par.

Now the university says it is under pressure to generate a profit as costs are expected to increase over the next two years.

The financial woes come on the heels of news that last year 10,000 students graduated from the university, the highest number in its 800 year history.

Rector Engl pointed out that if 30 percent of all Austrian students registered at the university, it would still only receive 15 percent of the government’s total university budget.