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[madhatter]

The job is not in Vienna.

I've had good meals in Salzburg, which is also practically a commuter train ride from Munich.

[totoro]

Salzburg isn't the only other city :)

[dellaroux]

We took a wonderful picnic lunch into the hills over Oberammergau at the 2-hour break in the play in 1990.

A curried tuna-apple-and-raisin salad was the main course, with excellent sides and thermoses of hot tea.

(A friend was working at Max Plaank in Munich at the time, and we went down for the day....)

But there's no school near there that I know of, so...

It must be one of these...

   http://www.univie.ac.at/services/universitaeten-in-oesterreich/

Graz?

[tinyzombie]

Salzburg isn't the only other city :)

If you'd like advice on a particular city, wouldn't it make sense to tell us which it is?

[totoro]

Salzburg isn't the only other city :)

If you'd like advice on a particular city, wouldn't it make sense to tell us which it is?

I asked for advice on the Austrian academic system not on life in a specific city but people are trying to guess at which university I have an interview.

[angelicus]

Totoro, I have the same question you do for similar reasons, though the university I'm dealing with is Vienna.  I'm particularly interested in Sandgrounder's explanation of "low pressure" in academics.  How does that take into account being expected to be in your office from 9-5,  amassing huge fortunes in outside funding, and (from what I understand from the German system) lots of endless oral examinations of students.

"The grass is greener" article also doesn't make it sound very attractive.  I speak German and more or less know the culture, but know very little of the inside workings of the Austrian university system (never went to school or worked there). 

Any further facts, opinions, or insights would be much appreciated.

[sandgrounder]

Totoro, I have the same question you do for similar reasons, though the university I'm dealing with is Vienna.  I'm particularly interested in Sandgrounder's explanation of "low pressure" in academics.  How does that take into account being expected to be in your office from 9-5,  amassing huge fortunes in outside funding, and (from what I understand from the German system) lots of endless oral examinations of students.

"The grass is greener" article also doesn't make it sound very attractive.  I speak German and more or less know the culture, but know very little of the inside workings of the Austrian university system (never went to school or worked there). 

Any further facts, opinions, or insights would be much appreciated.

None of the Austrian academics I know seem to be under any real pressure to publish in top journals, get grants (other than internal Austrian ones for which the sucess rate seems reasonably high compared to the UK where I am anyway) and they have very generous expense accounts for conferences etc. They seem to be able to take long holidays too.  The marking seems to be mainly lengthy essays (1 per student per course) and then some oral exams at the end of the entire degree. I only know social scientists but it sounds much more laid back than Germany, which I know well for example. Oh and don't know anyone expected to work strict 9-5.
The disadavantages I know of I outlined in my earlier post.

[angelicus]

Thanks Sandgrounder, that is very helpful.

Do you know what the standard teaching load (contact hours, no. of courses, etc.) is?

[totoro]

I am at my interview in Austria at the moment. Certainly encountering some inflexible bureaucracy. To get my ticket refunded they want to at least see some of the boarding passes and then they are planning to pay me in Euros cash on the spot because "it is too expensive to transfer money". And when they get to the negotiation stage with the candidate that they choose the candidate has to come here in person. I suggested a video conference and was told that they didn't think that was possible.

But the city is very nice and the people I have met are also very nice too. The teaching requirement is to teach 8 credit hours per semester which is actually 6 real hours in the class-room but it is 4 different courses. So it is about as many hours as a US 2/2 but more preps. I also learned that graduating from high school in Austria means you are entitled to attend university in any subject you like for free. But a lot of the students are then failed out. So there aren't big differences in perceived quality across the system. Getting appointed to full professor also entitles you to hire someone as an "assistant" - could be a PhD student, postdoc, or assistant prof to work with you. There is a demand from Austrian students to have courses offered in English because this improves their employability. Only about 10% of students are foreign including EU students. EU students can study for free too of course (vs. £9000 p.a. now in the UK...).

[totoro]

Oh and don't know anyone expected to work strict 9-5.

At the dinner tonight there were 3 candidates including me (6 are being interviewed for this job). One from Linz said that some of their professors lived in Vienna and only showed up one day a week or so and this was not considered good form but that there were no rules governing residence location so nothing could be done about it. People were saying that life was very relaxed compared to say Sydney, let alone the US. On the other hand, some of them are publishing in good journals, some are publishing a lot and some have a lot of grants - but mostly from Austria. But others aren't doing these things. But the latter aren't being promoted either.

[angelicus]

Totoro
Thanks so much for the updates and info.  This is all new to me and very very helpful.  Hope you get (and like) the job!

[totoro]

In the end they agreed to transfer the ticket refund to my bank account but maybe they will deduct the fees from what they pay me... They aren't paying all my costs. The trip will cost me about $400 in excess costs. But I'm coming from Australia. If you come from the US they should cover it based on this.

At the interview, they pointedly asked me "will you live in this city". I said "Yes, of course, I will move to Austria so obviously I will live in this city". They said that that might be natural for me but not for all the candidates (see my previous message).

I was told that that faculty get Euro 1200 in travel funds from the university each year.

Here at least, for a full professor, at least, they are very open to a spousal hire. But they happen to have open positions in a relevant department.

They are interviewing 6 people and then must submit a ranked list of three candidates to the Dean and/or Rector = President. The candidates will be told of their rank. I noticed one person here lists on his CV how he was ranked in various professorial searches across Europe. That's interesting in the context of recent discussions on the fora on whether one can list "job talks" on ones CV.

That's the main generally relevant things that come to mind. The main thing, is that at least at this university, everyone I have met is very nice and friendly and extremely hospitable.