In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

f) CHNPTER ~ Opening the Gates Expansion ofthe Educational Network n the 1850s and 1860s Austria's educational authorities launched an bitious program of institutional development. They wanted a modn educational system comparable to the best in the neighboring European states. Austria's secondary schools, universities, and technical colleges were expected to develop as distinguished centers of learning . In more utilitarian terms, these institutions were. to produce the professionals, technical personnel, and educated employees required to assure order and prosperity in a modern society. The reformers of the 1850s and 1860s expeCted the educational system to grow in numbers of institutions and people served, but they could hardly have expected the expansion in studerit enrollments a'nd the resulting pool of the educated and semieducated that occurred during the late nineteenth century. Compared with its school-aged population, Austria's enrollments in secondary and higher education at the beginning of the . twentieth century were among the highest in Europe. After the 1850s Austria experienced unprecedented growth in its academic secondary schools, universities, and technical colleges. The number of students in the Gymnasien and RealschUlen increased from 25,630 in 1851 to 140,545 in 1910 (see table 2/1).1 In roughly the same period, the number of matriculated university students in Austria increased sixfold, expanding from 3,709 in winter 1856-57 to 23,068 in winter 1909-10, while the number of matriculated students in the technical colleges nearly quintupled from 2,235 to 10,110.2 Enrollments in secondary and higher education grew significantly faster than did the total population, so that relative access, or the inclusiveness of academic education, increased as well. In 1851, there were only 1.46 Gymnasium and Realschule students per thousand in the total population (male and female); b~t by 1910, the number had grown to 5.03 per thousand. Between 1857 and 1910, the matriculated university enrollments expanded from 0.20 per thousand in the total population to 0.82 per thousand (see table 2/1).3 A more telling.me~sure of educational opportunities is a comparison of the enrollments at each level. to the population in the appropriate 55 56'~ CHAPTER TWO TABLE 2/1 Enrollments inAustrian Secondary and Higher Education, 1851-1910 Gymnasien, Realgymnasien,. & Realschul.en Total enrolled Per 1,000 in (matr. & priv.) total pop. At end of acad.year. 1850-51" 1860-61"t . 1869-70' 1879-'-80· 1889-90 1899-1900 1909-10 25,630 36,262 43,734 65,935 71,295 95,914 140,545 1.46 1.99 2.15 3.03 3.04 3.74 5.03 Universities and Technical Colleges At end of Total matr. Per 1,000 in Total matr. Per 1,000 winter sem. in univ. total pop. in tech. col. in tot. pop. 1856-57" 3,709 0.20 2,235 0.12 1869-70' 7,904 0.39 1,841 0.09 1879-80 8,114 0.37 2,988 0.14 1889-90 12,421 0.53 1,608 0.069 1899-.1900 14,331 0.56 4,843 .0.19 1909-10 23,068 0.82 10,110 0.36 Sources: Schimmer 1858; .Schimmer 1877; Statistisches jahrbuch fur das jah·r 1869; Statistisches jahrbuchfurdasjahr 1879; Oster. Statistik 28, no. 4 (1892); 68, no. 3 (1903); n.s., 7, no. 3 (1913); Mitchell 1978; 3; Urbanitsch 1980, 3, pt. 1: 38; table I. . Statistics on the total numbers of matriculated ·university and technical college studentsfor 1850-51 and 1860-61 are.notavailable in these sources. The 1857 and 1869 censuses included only the civil population in the statistics on total population. t Total population statistics taken from the 1857 Austrian census. age bracket.4 The Austrian government published the first general statistics on age stratification with the December 1869 census returns.· In 1870 Austria had 14~09 Gymnasium and Realschule students per thousand in the eleven- to eighteen-year-old population, male and female. The expansion of aCls.and higher education actually achieved the standards of quality that obtained in the finest of Germany's institutions during the late nineteenth century. 58 CHAPTER TWO Austrian educational authorities and parliamentary representatives proudly pointed to the accC?mplishments of the most renowned Austrian scholars, scientists, and physicians, but who or what was responsible for the accomplishments of these eminent few is far from clear. There could be little doubt, though, that Austria overcame much of its backwardness and reached Germany's standards in terms of the percentage of...

Share