Austrian university students protest against increased fees

Vienna University, Elfriede Jelinek Research Centre

Several hundred of university students took the streets in both Vienna and Salzburg on Wednesday to protest against increased fees and admissions restrictions.

Organized by the Austrian National Student Union (OeH), the protest in Vienna drew about 350 students from the University of Vienna and the Vienna University of Technology.

Amongst their demands they called for "Education for all, and for free," according to report by the Austrian Press Agency.

The protest in Salzburg echoed the same sentiment, with one student saying "if only two percent of GDP were invested in education, we would not be having this discussion."

The reform of student fees will be confirmed in the Austrian National Council Thursday, in which long-term students and non-European Union citizens (about 15 percent of the total student numbers) will have their student fees increased.