ÖH and works council at MCI protest against planned downsizing of the campus

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The Chair of the MCI Works Council (BR) and the Chair of the Austrian Students' Union (ÖH) at MCI have issued an urgent appeal to the press:

ÖH Chairwoman Laura Flür: " For many years, the MCI has been promised the imminent MCI Campus in repeated Sunday speeches. For just as many years, however, this has been repeatedly turned into a political pawn and called into question by the media."

BR Chairman Johannes Dickel: "Suddenly, out of nowhere, additional costs of 30 million euros are being claimed, and this argument is being used to reduce the size of the new campus from an already tight 126,000m3 to 111,000m3. This will drastically condense the interior.

This is to the detriment of the quality of work and stay for staff and students on the campus. Unfortunately, this also deprives the MCI of the opportunity to position and further develop itself internationally as an attractive place to research, study, work and found companies."

The MCI Works Council and MCI students have the following questions:

  • Where do the suddenly claimed additional costs come from?
  • Who is checking them?
  • Why are no external experts or comparative offers being obtained to check the plausibility of the claimed costs?
  • Wasn't the "competitive dialogue" that was vehemently propagated at the time as a new procurement procedure supposed to ensure that something like this couldn't happen?
  • Weren't the same companies that are now arguing the additional costs involved in the architectural competition and found the winning project to be functional and in line with the budget?
  • Didn't the very same companies also carry out the further planning?
  • Why should such inconsistencies suddenly be at the expense of students and staff and the future development opportunities of the MCI as a renowned university, important science and education centre and attractive employer?
  • Don't all scientific studies and experiences show that investments in research, technology, innovation and education are essential to ensure competitiveness and prosperity and to open up future prospects for young people?
  • Doesn't the MCI offer precisely those courses of study, further education and research services that are particularly in demand on the labour market and are so important for the location?
  • Why is it that the urgently needed new MCI campus, which has been promised for many years and which has developed successfully and without scandal since its foundation and has been producing nothing but good news for more than 25 years, is to be massively cut back?

Laura Flür and Johannes Dickel continue: "The most expensive way to build is to build wrong. We cannot accept that any political or entrepreneurial mistakes are made at the expense of the MCI's dedicated employees and students."

Questions:

  • Johannes Dickel,
  • Laura Flür,