Medicinska fakulteta Univerze v Ljubljani 1919–1945 - Univerza v ...

The Chair of Medical-Surgical
Studies at the Ljubljana Lyceum
1791–1848
I
From the middle of the 18 th century, the freedom of academic
instruction and science began to increasingly establish itself at
the provincial universities of the northern and western German
states, while in Austria, they knew of the weaknesses of their
tertiary education as early as the time of Charles VI (1711–1740)
when they began the first hesitant attempts to remedy them, but
unfortunately, there were no major changes to the educational
system� The first measures only signalled a stronger influence of
the state� The more meaningful interventions into the educational
system that were implemented during the reign of Maria
Theresa (1740–1780), Joseph II (1780–1790) and Leopold II
(1790–1792) could already be seen as a gradual creation of a new
educational and study concept� The complex reform activities,
which were already strongly influenced by the ideas of the Age
of Enlightenment, focused primarily on ensuring a stronger state
influence, practical vocational fields of study and the elimination
of denominational fields of study� The attempts at adopting and
connecting with the study programmes and study systems of
Western Europe were, however, unsuccessful� The University
of Vienna, which began establishing itself as a model Austrian
university, was at the centre of reform efforts, but educationalpolitical
orientations were nevertheless being conceptualised for
the entire country�
During the first phase of university reform, the Theresian reform
absolutism assisted by the personal physician of the Empress
and the central personality of Theresian reform, the Dutchman
Gerard van Swieten, managed – in less than a decade – to significantly
weaken the monopolistic position that was enjoyed up to
that time in tertiary education by the Order of the Jesuits� Thus
began the process of limiting their educational autonomy� The
positions, from which Jesuits were deposed, were taken up by the
state that appointed their own personnel resources�
The first reforms of university-level studies resulted in students
storming the universities seated in large cities where the majority
of public offices were located and where the main civil legal and
other matters were being conducted and arranged� This primarily
applies to Vienna and Prague, i�e� the two higher education
schools that had been operating four faculties for a long time:
the Faculty of Philosophy, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Medicine
and the Faculty of Theology; where the fields of study were
already regulated� Those who passed the prescribed examina-
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Jože Ciperle
tions, especially the law students, could be optimistic about
getting a suitable job� After the 1850s, the system of examinations
and professional qualifications gradually became increasingly
more interdependent and interconnected� The old system of job
recruitment that was based on personal connections was replaced
by the new system that relied on effectiveness� In opposition to
the expectations of the higher education system reformers, the
changes to academic study – at least in the large university cities
where the conditions in the area of employment were thoroughly
changed on account of the rise of new professions – brought
about an increase in the number of students, which occurred
from the 1850s�
Things were different at the numerous colleges or higher education
teaching institutions in the provinces� Possibilities for study there
were more modest and limited primarily to philosophy and
theology� They mostly served regional needs, while state-decreed
measures reached them relatively late� They were a thorn in the
side of the enlightened reformers of higher education in Vienna
who saw them as centres of the scorned ecclesiastical orders
and Scholasticism� Because the new disciplines there were only
sparsely represented, the number of suitably trained professors
was limited and the number of students small; they were of the
opinion that “there would be no harm if they were to be abolished
as soon as possible”� Even more so because similar meditations
were springing up in Germany, which were supported by the
argument that two universities were sufficient even for all of
England�
In the second phase of university reform that began in 1772,
when the abolition of the Order of the Jesuits was beginning
to be intimated, Austrian universities were to a large extent
transformed – alongside the extinguishment of their authority
and their character of autonomous corporations at the time –
into educationally organised institutions, i�e� a sort of “vocational
schools” for the upbringing of loyal servants of an absolutist
state, which included future clergy, lawyers, public servants and
doctors� The conversion of Jesuit universities into state institutions
suited the bureaucratic state administration� The state
took into its own hands “study” at the four university faculties,
the property owned by the university as well as the jurisdiction
enjoyed by the university�
In the beginning of the 19 th century, there were much greater
opportunities for the acquisition of academic education as a