The Austrian National Union of Students called on 21 October for a march on Thursday, 22 October, in Vienna. The motto is Alarmstufe Rot, #UnisRetten. Start is 15:00 at the TU Wien main building, Karlsplatz 13. Arrival is planned for 18:00 at the University of Vienna. This is the call. It is not the march already held.

ÖH has registered 10,000 participants for now and hopes for more. Organisation is the students’ alone. Universities Austria will give speeches, as will senates and works councils, but it is not a co-organiser. Rectorates officially support the protest, including time off to attend. GÖD announced its support on Wednesday. Support does not mean the march has taken place.

Since the weekend the figure has stood: the 23 public universities get 16 billion euros in the 2028–2030 three-year budget. That is two billion below what uniko says is needed just to cover inflation, about 18 billion. The universities have announced cutting every tenth post. A staffing announcement is not a list of dismissals already carried out in lecture halls.

ÖH fears a weaker course offering. Until 31 October, the union writes, the government can still improve the budget. derStandard reported the call after APA, at 16:20. Headlines that put the march in the past close a day that has not started.

In May, ÖH, then together with the rectorates, spoke of about 40,000 people, 28,000 in Vienna alone. A little more than a week ago students blocked the Ring with “lectures” and action points. Those protests already happened. Thursday is another call.

The relationship between rectors and students has cooled after uniko and some rectors showed sympathy for expanding tuition fees. ÖH told APA that a higher university budget remains a shared goal, but that views of the effects on students and staff differ. This article does not announce wider fees, does not announce 10 percent of posts cut today and does not announce Thursday’s turnout.

Image: Bohringer, TU Wien, Karlsplatz, 21 November 2014, CC BY-SA 3.0 at, Wikimedia Commons; the building in 2014, not Thursdays march.

Sources consulted: University budget: OeH calls a further demo for more money on Thursday - derStandard, 21 October 2026; UnisRetten: Alarmstufe Rot - Austrian National Union of Students.