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Direkt zum Inhalt

1. Anträge an den Corona-Härtefonds werden ausschließlich online (NICHT über E-Mail) entgegen genommen, das Corona-Härtefonds Antragsformular ist zwingend auszufüllen, zu speichern und hochzuladen (siehe FAQs).
2. Es werden nur vollständig eingereichte Anträge behandelt, unvollständige Anträge werden - aus Zeitgründen - abgelehnt.
3. Bevor du hier einen Antrag stellst, erkundige dich bei deiner lokalen Hochschulvertretung (ÖH Map), ob diese eine Unterstützung bietet und beantrage diese zuerst!
Wichtige Hinweise zur Antragstellung findest du in unseren FAQs!

Dieses Formular online ausfüllen

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Direkt zum Inhalt 1. Anträge an den Corona-Härtefonds werden ausschließlich online (NICHT über E-Mail) entgegen genommen, das Corona-Härtefonds Antragsformular ist zwingend auszufüllen, zu speichern und hochzuladen (siehe FAQs). 2. Es werden nur vollständig eingereichte Anträge behandelt, unvollständige Anträge werden - aus Zeitgründen - abgelehnt. 3.

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Corona Information Vienna ist eine mehrsprachige Sendereihe von ORANGE 94.0, die aktuelle, sachliche und überprüfte Informationen rund um die Verbreitung des COVID-19 Virus in Österreich in den Sprachen Deutsch, Englisch, Farsi, Arabisch und Somali liefert.

Das Ziel dieser Sendereihe ist es mehrsprachige, gut recherchierte und an aktuellen Bedürfnissen der einzelnen Sprachcommunitys angepasste Informationen zu liefern. Wir möchten der Informationsüberflutung und der Gerüchteküche entgegen treten, indem wir relevante, aktuelle, durch sicheren Quellen überprüfte Inhalte ausstrahlen.

In fünf Folgen werden wir verschiedene Themen rund um die COVID-19 Krise, die das tägliche Leben der in Wien und Österreich lebenden Menschen unmittelbar betreffen, behandeln.

Corona Information Vienna is a multilingual series of ORANGE 94.0 that provides up-to-date, factual and verified information on the spread of the COVID-19 virus in Austria. This information and series is brought to you in German, English, Farsi, Arabic and Somali.

The aim of this series is to provide multilingual, well-researched information that is adapted to the current needs of the particular language communities.

We want to assist in times of information overload and prevent the rumor mill by broadcasting relevant, current content checked by secure sources.

In five episodes we will deal with various topics related to the COVID-19 crisis that directly affect the daily lives of people living in Vienna and Austria.

كورونا معلومات فيينا
هي سلسلة متعددة اللغات يبثها راديو اورانج 94.0 تتجدد معلوماتها الجادة والتي يتم التحقق منها حول انتشار الفيروس كوفيد 19 في النمسا باللغات الألمانية والإنجليزية والفارسية والعربية والصومالية
يهدف البرنامج إلى تقديم إجابات عن تساؤلات يومية يعيشها المجتمع تشبع تطلعات كل فرد فيه بمختلف لغاته متجنبين المعلومات الخاطئة والشائعات الكاذبة عن طريق البث الجاد من مصادر موثوق بها والتي تحمل كل المصداقية
ويكون ذلك عبر خمس حلقات سنغطي من خلالها مواضيع مختلفة تدور كلها حول معالجة أزمة فيروس كوفيد 19 التي مست الحياة اليومية للموطنين في فيينا خصوصا والنمسا عموما

Corona Information Vienna

برنامه آگهی کرونا - ویانا، یک برنامه معلوماتی چندین لسانه است و از رادیو نارنج با معلومات های تایید شده، دقیق و تازه در رابطه به ویروس کرونا به زبان های آلمانی، انگلیسی، فارسی، عربی و سومالیایی به نشر میرسد

هدف این برنامه شریک سازی معلومات دقیق بررسی شده و تازه بوده که در زنده گی روزمره مردم و اجتماع چندین لسانه ویانا و اتریش تاثیر گذار میباشد. با نشر برنامه آگهی کرونا - ویانا، میخواهیم معلومات های تایید نشده ویا نادرست را با معلومات؛ درست، تازه، دقیق و از منابع معتبر و تایید شده به شما اراییه کنیم

در پنج مورد راجع به بحران کرونا یا کوید نزده، میخواهیم به موضوعاتی بپردازیم که در زنده گی مردم ویانا و اتریش تاثیر گذار است

Macluumaadka Corona Vienna waa taxane ka bixi doona idaacada ORANGE 94.0, macluumaadka hadda jira, xaqiiqda iyo macluumaadka shaqsiyeed ee ku saabsan fayraska COVID-19 ee Austria kuna baxaya luuqadaha Jarmalka, Ingiriiska, Farsi, Carabiga iyo Soomaaliga.

Ujeedada taxanahan ayaa ah in lagu bixiyo luuqado badan, macluumaad si cilmiyeysan loo baaray oo ku habboon xiriirka shaqsi ee bulshooyinka luuqadahaan ku hadla. Waxaan xisaabinay macluumaadka xad dhaafka ah iyo helitaanka xaqiiqooyinka, si isdaba joog ah, iyada oo loo marayo ififaalaha soo ifbaxaya.

Shan cutub ayaan usoo gudbin doonnaa dadka mowduucyo kala duwan oo la xiriira dhibaatada COVID 19 ee kajira Vienna iyo Austria.

Redaktion: Maiada Hadaia, Hamdi Hassan, Annemarie Puntschart, Souaad Sayoud, Ramin Siawash
Redaktionsleitung: Maiada Hadaia
Mitarbeit: Jaquieline Gam, Lyudmila Handzhiyska, Paweł Kamiński

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Corona Information Vienna ist eine mehrsprachige Sendereihe von ORANGE 94.0, die aktuelle, sachliche und überprüfte Informationen rund um die Verbreitung des COVID-19 Virus in Österreich in den Sprachen Deutsch, Englisch, Farsi, Arabisch und Somali liefert. Das Ziel dieser Sendereihe ist es mehrsprachige, gut recherchierte und an aktuellen Bedürfnissen der einzelnen Sprachcommunitys angepasste Informationen zu liefern.

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Freigeschaltete Inhalte von Verlagen - Universität Salzburg

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Drücken Sie Enter oder Accesskey „m" um zur Haupt-Navi zu gelangen. Accesskeys: h - Home | u - Sub-Navi | b - Brotkrumenpfad | s - Suche | f - Footer | t - Top-Navi Drücken Sie Enter oder Accesskey „u" um zur Sub-Navi zu gelangen.

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A little over one hundred years ago, a novel virus emerged from an unknown animal reservoir and seeded itself silently in settlements around the world. Then, in the closing months of World War I, as if from nowhere, the infection exploded in multiple countries and continents at more or less the same time. From Boston to Cape Town, and London to Mumbai, the "Spanish flu," so-called because the first widely reported outbreak occurred in Madrid in May 1918, swept like wildfire through cities and communities both large and small.

By the time the virus had burned itself out, in the spring of 1919, a third of the world's population had been infected and at least 50 million people were dead. That is 40 million more than perished on the killing fields of Flanders and northern France (and elsewhere in Europe), and 10 million more than have died from AIDS in the forty years since the syndrome was first recognized in the 1980s.

Yet, except for those who watched loved ones succumb to the deadly pneumonic complications of Spanish flu, or who nursed patients on influenza wards and lost colleagues to the infection, the virus left relatively little mark on the collective consciousness of society. "Americans took little notice of the pandemic," noted the environmental historian Alfred Crosby America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918 (1989), "then quickly forgot whatever they did notice."

The Times of London was similarly puzzled by the pandemic's failure to leave an emotional residue. "So vast was the catastrophe and so ubiquitous its prevalence that our minds, surfeited with the horrors of war, refused to realize it," opined an editorial in "The Thunderer" in February 1921. "It came and went, a hurricane across the green fields of life, sweeping away our youth in hundreds of thousands and leaving behind it a toll of sickness and infirmity which will not be reckoned in this generation."

Even now, just three months into the pandemic of Covid-19, it seems there's little danger of the coronavirus being similarly forgotten by historians. Although, at the time of writing, the global death toll stands at a modest 6,610, SARS-CoV-2, to give the virus its official name, has already crashed world stock markets, grounded the international aviation industry, and sparked nationwide-wide lockdowns in Italy, France, Spain, and Iran. Now, with Europe in the eye of the storm and North America next in line to feel its full blast, President Trump's assurances that Covid-19 "will go very quickly" are looking more vacuous by the day.

As the full scale of the challenge presented by Covid-19 becomes apparent to governments, and as the World Health Organization's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, issues increasingly pointed warnings about the need for countries "to take urgent and aggressive action," so those who are familiar with the history and science of pandemics have grown increasingly anxious that history may be about to repeat itself. As Bill Gates pointed out in a recent commentary in The New England Journal of Medicine:

Global health experts have been saying for years that another pandemic whose speed and severity rivaled those of the 1918 influenza epidemic was a matter not of if but of when ... Covid-19 has started behaving a lot like the once-in-a-century pathogen we've been worried about.

Infectious disease experts at the Francis Crick Institute, Britain's leading biomedical research center, concur. As one researcher put it in a recent email to a colleague: "This is NOT business as usual. This will be different from what anyone living has ever experienced. The closest comparator is 1918 influenza."

*

As someone who has been studying and writing about pandemics for more than fifteen years, I share these concerns. My interest in the subject began in 2005 when I interviewed John Oxford, a professor of virology at Queen Mary and Westfield School of Medicine, in London, about avian influenza. A few months earlier, a strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus had sparked a spate of deaths in Vietnam, and I had asked Professor Oxford to give me a tutorial on the ecology and virology of influenza before I headed to Hanoi to write a new feature about the virus for The Observer. Very quickly, our conversation turned to other notable outbreaks of infectious disease, including the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic.

This was for me the beginning of an obsession with the Spanish flu and other pandemic viruses that has led, by way of a doctorate and a research fellowship, to a deep engagement with the history of infectious diseases and pandemics.

Despite Professor Oxford's concerns that H5N1 might combine with a strain of swine flu to create an "Armageddon virus," the feared bird flu pandemic never materialized. Instead, he was accused of stoking a pandemic scare to boost spending on virus research. In 2009, the WHO found itself similarly in the dock when an outbreak of a novel swine flu virus triggered a worldwide pandemic alert, only for the illness to prove no more severe than a regular seasonal influenza. That is one reason why the WHO was so wary of designating Covid-19 a pandemic this time around, delaying the formal announcement until March 11.

How deadly the Covid-19 outbreak will prove to be, no one can yet say, but the echoes of 1918 are growing louder by the hour. For me, the sense that history may be on the verge of repeating came with those early images from Wuhan showing hastily constructed hospital "waiting rooms" filled with row after row of cubicles full of coronavirus patients. As the lockdown of Wuhan and other Chinese cities took effect, and the casualty count slowed, I held my breath. Perhaps China's draconian quarantine measures would prevent a pandemic? Maybe we weren't going to see a repeat of 1918, after all?

Then came the drama of the passengers trapped on cruise ship Diamond Princess. Confined to their cabins in Yokohama Harbor, most passengers thought it was simply a matter of sitting out the quarantine, after which they'd be free to resume their lives. Instead, a seventy-two-hour delay by Japanese officials in locking down the vessel after the notification of the first case turned the ship into a floating petri dish. The result was that by the time the quarantine was lifted, on February 19, two passengers were dead and six hundred and twenty-one had been infected.

A week later, the number of new cases outside China exceeded those inside China for the first time, and significant outbreaks were also being recorded in South Korea, Iran, and northern Italy. Then, without warning, at the end of February, several cases erupted at a nursing home in Seattle. As in 1918, the virus was now spreading under the radar, outside of known contact chains, making a pandemic all but inevitable.

Although we do not know where the 1918 pandemic started-one theory is it began in Haskell County, Kansas; another that it originated in northern France; yet another that it, too, came from China-the evidence suggests that, at first, the H1N1 Spanish flu virus also spread silently and stealthily around the globe. This was because, as with the present wave of Covid-19 infections, the initial illnesses were mild, with a mortality rate of around 0.5 to 1 percent that was too low to register against the background mortality from seasonal flu and unrelated respiratory illnesses. (Other factors in 1918 were the absence of sophisticated real-time epidemiological surveillance systems and the presence of a compliant press, rather than social media.)

With hindsight, one of the missed epidemiological signals may have been an outbreak of a flu-like illness that occurred in March 1918 at Camp Funston, a US Army training camp in Kansas, where young recruits were being readied for passage to northern France and the rigors of trench warfare. The outbreak was explosive. Within a matter of days, some twelve hundred soldiers were on the sick list, forcing medical officers to requisition a large auditorium adjacent to the base hospital for the overflow. The vast majority of men suffered nothing worse than a three-day fever, but about a fifth of those hospitalized developed aggressive pneumonias, and by May, seventy-five of them had died.

Today, the photograph of more than two hundred soldiers laid out on cots in the emergency ward, is one of the best-known and most haunting images of the 1918 pandemic-though whether or not the image actually depicts an early wave of the Spanish flu is a matter hotly contested by historians. What is certain is that in May 1918, millions of Spaniards were suddenly stricken by a very similar disease, as were thousands of American and French troops in northern France.

By the early summer, large outbreaks marked by an unusual level of mortality in young adults-a hallmark of later waves of the pandemic-were also being reported in Copenhagen and other northern European cities. In Manchester, England, for instance, the local medical officer of health, James Niven, was so alarmed by the sudden sickness of a large number of schoolchildren that he hastily printed 35,000 handbills spelling out the dangers of influenza and giving strict instructions for the isolation of the sick.

However, it was the second wave of flu, in the fall of 1918, that brought home the humbling power of the virus. In London, for instance, deaths in October at the height of the killing wave were running at 4,500 a week, and there was panic buying at druggists. Health services across Britain were quickly overwhelmed. As one GP's son from Lancashire recalled: "So many were ill that only the worst could be visited. People collapsed in their homes, in the streets and at work. Many never regained consciousness. All treatment was futile."

As in the earlier spring wave, the worst-affected patients developed aggressive pneumonias in one or more lobes of their lungs. In some cases, these pneumonias were accompanied by a condition called heliotrope cyanosis that turned patients' faces a deathly lavender color as they gasped for breath. The condition was nowhere more apparent than in September 1918 at Camp Devens, another large US Army camp at Ayer, Massachusetts. As at Camp Funston, so many soldiers were sickened that makeshift beds had to be installed in corridors and side rooms to take the overspill from the hospital.

"The faces soon wear a bluish cast," recalled an Army medic who witnessed the death rattles of the worst cases. "A distressing cough brings up the bloodstained sputum. In the morning the dead bodies are stacked about the morgue like cord wood."

*

To be sure, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is a very different pathogen to influenza. Although both spread via respiratory droplets in coughs and sneezes, coronaviruses do not transmit very efficiently as aerosols, as flu does. Indeed, SARS-CoV-2 is not thought to present a risk at distances further than six feet. Instead, the virus's principal mode of spread appears to be through prolonged social contact, such as occurs in family groupings.

Another difference is that, unlike the Spanish flu, which had a notably high rate of mortality for adults between the ages of twenty and forty, SARS-CoV-2 is principally a risk to the elderly, those sixty and over, and people with underlying medical conditions. There is also no firm evidence, as yet, that children are a significant vector of infection, a crucial contrast with influenza and, indeed, the Spanish flu, which was seen to sicken children before adults.

On the debit side, there is mounting evidence that people who are symptom-free but infected may be capable of transmitting the virus. Worse, the average reproduction rate of SARS-CoV-2-that is, the number of people who will be infected by one infected person-is running at 2.2, which is markedly higher than the rate for Spanish flu, which was 1.8.

Another consideration is that in 1918 almost everyone had been exposed to some type of influenza before, meaning most people could count on a degree of immunity. The result was that the Spanish flu infected only a third of the world's population. By contrast, no one has any immunity to the new coronavirus-hence the estimates that as much as 80 percent of the world's population could have been infected by the time the pandemic will have run its course.

The greatest reason for concern, though, is that so far, SARS-CoV-2 appears to kill about 2 percent of confirmed cases. That is a very similar mortality rate to the Spanish flu.

But even that should not be a cause for panic or despair. One of the chief lessons of the 1918 pandemic is that cities such as St. Louis that acted early and decisively to contain the virus by banning large public gatherings, closing schools, and isolating ill or suspected case, fared notably better than cities such as Philadelphia that failed to take timely measures or did not sustain them. The problem, of course, is that such actions are hugely disruptive to the economy, a fact reflected in the reluctance of authorities to employ such measures except as a last resort.

That was before last week. Now that President Trump has reversed his previous position, rejoined evidence-based reality, and declared a national emergency, officials are having to contemplate even more decisive measures, such as calling on the Army Corps of Engineers to erect temporary medical shelters to cope with the expected influx of patients. This is not something we saw, outside of the US Army's own camps, even in 1918.

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The 1918 Pandemic and Coronavirus | The New York Review of Books | Daily

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A little over one hundred years ago, a novel virus emerged from an unknown animal reservoir and seeded itself silently in settlements around the world. Then, in the closing months of World War I, as if from nowhere, the infection exploded in multiple countries and continents at more or less the same time.

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As a student, I am entitled to participate in all university and higher education institution activities. Why do restrictions currently apply to me?

The measures have been adopted with consideration for the health of the population and are designed to protect students. Lectures will be moved online as far as possible or postponed if necessary. Where possible, students should not suffer any disadvantages. Ultimately, there is no alternative but to enforce the current restrictions.

What happens if I cannot achieve the study credits (ECTS points) required for scholarships and grants due to delayed university learning activities?

The existing legal situation regarding educational grants allows for compensation in special cases. If it can be proven that cancellations of lectures or exams are due to the measures taken against COVID-19, it may be possible for the authority responsible for student loans to extend the entitlement period. If the academic achievement required for the first two semesters cannot be attained because of the present circumstances, it is possible in specific, justifiable cases to obtain a study grant from the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research.

Additionally, it may be possible for family allowances to be extended. This decision rests with the Federal Ministry of Labour, Family and Youth and the parents' local tax office.

How will missed university learning activities and internships be rescheduled/compensated?

University learning activities that cannot be replaced by distance learning and have therefore been cancelled will be rescheduled where possible, depending on the specific situation. For instance, grouped lecture blocks or other potential learning methods within periods in which lectures are not usually held are possible. The university senate can enact regulations regarding the structure of the academic year.

With regard to internships, different formats and circumstances of the individual case have to be considered. In many cases, internships are carried out outside universities and higher education institutions and are therefore not necessarily covered by the current limitations. At present, internships at schools cannot be carried out and need to be rescheduled for a later date. On the other hand, internships in the clinical practice year of a medical degree should be pursued.

Research activity is to continue, but various libraries have been closed. How is this possible?

The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research has recommended that universities and higher education institutions close larger reading rooms in libraries for the time being. Depending on the specific local circumstances, the closure of lending systems is not mandatory. Books can therefore still be borrowed at various universities. Additionally, some reading material has been made available online.

My university does not have the technological means of enabling distance-learning activities. Are any countermeasures being put in place?

Universities and higher education institutions are normally well equipped in the area of digital infrastructure. In the area of university education, in particular, numerous investments have been made. No further short-term measures are currently feasible.

My scholarship is about to run out and I cannot complete my studies in time because of the limitations due to COVID-19. Who can help me?

It is important to distinguish whether the problem can be solved by the university or the higher education institution, or if a binding legal provision is preventing a "fair" solution. The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research understands that universities and higher education institutions are using the provisions available to cover special cases. Should this not be possible in an individual case, the Federal Ministry will engage in finding a legal solution.

What happens if the measures against COVID-19 extend the duration of my studies and I therefore have to pay tuition fees?

Universities and higher education institutions have the option to waive tuition fees. This obviously applies only to cases directly affected by the restrictions.

Why do universities and institutions of higher education have different approaches to handling COVID-19? Would a unified approach not be more sensible?

The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research made unified recommendations to universities and higher education institutions. However, institutions are free to decide upon the implementation of a specific course of action in line with the local situation. This is appropriate and necessary.

My lectures have been replaced with distance learning, but I do not have the necessary technology. What can I do?

Unfortunately, the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research cannot provide technological support. Moving teaching activities online is designed to minimise the impact of COVID-19 on universities and higher education institutions. Unfortunately, restrictions cannot be fully avoided. If problems arise, it is recommended that you contact the head of the study programme. Individual solutions can potentially be considered further.

The head of the study programme does not want to offer distance learning, citing academic freedom as his/her reason. What can I do?

In such cases, it is recommended that you contact the leadership team of the university/higher education institution.

Our university is considering an amendment rescheduling university learning activities for the study-free period in July. Is this feasible/desirable on a national level?

The structure of the academic year is a decision for the university. Learning activities may therefore be postponed until the summer. For now, it is not possible to estimate how long the current measures will be enforced. If necessary, postponing teaching activities until the summer will be necessary in order to allow students to properly complete the semester.

At our university or higher education institution, student representatives are not included in the consultations of the institution's leadership team on the further steps to be taken. What can we do?

First and foremost, please speak to the institution leadership team in question and inform the Austrian National Union of Students' Federal Body of Representatives (Bundesvertretung der Österreichischen Hochschüler_innenschaft). They are in constant contact with the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research.

How will registration deadlines be extended?

There is currently no need for action on this matter. The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research is monitoring the situation on an ongoing basis and if necessary will adopt the appropriate measures.

What about the entrance examinations for the upcoming winter semester? Will these be postponed?

As things stand, it is likely that at least some dates will have to be postponed. The universities and higher education institutions and the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research will provide information on respective measures in good time.

Can exams be taken via video conferencing?

This option may be considered provided that the exam can be properly completed.

At art universities, many students are losing a large part of their income since concerts, art projects, etc. are being cancelled. Individual universities and student representative bodies are trying to counteract this with an emergency fund.

15 March 2020

Cancellations of concerts, art projects, etc. are currently affecting the entire cultural sector; as a result, compensatory measures do not just fall within the remit of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF). Should the current situation last beyond Easter, the BMBWF will consider a variety of measures to support music and art universities.

At the medical universities, around 1500 students will be starting their clinical practice year on Monday. During this year, they normally receive monthly pay of €650. There are two issues here: a number of students will not be able to start their clinical practice year due to caring responsibilities (as a result of school closures), while others are being told by hospitals that "we can't take on young medics at the moment" and aren't being accepted. In both cases, the students will be missing out on income.

15 March 2020

The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research is in contact with the management teams at the medical universities in order to ensure that appropriate and, wherever possible, standardised solutions to these issues are implemented as soon as possible. If students are required to assist at healthcare facilities, they are advised to make use of the childcare facilities in place in nurseries and schools. Ultimately, however, students must personally decide for themselves what takes priority, since individual circumstances will vary.

What will happen to Erasmus students whose exam could take place on a date when they are no longer in Austria?

15 March 2020

At present, it is assumed that exams at Austrian higher education institutions will be postponed or taken online. If Erasmus students cannot take exams due to them being held on a date when they are no longer in Austria, the following applies: Erasmus students do not need to achieve the minimum requirement of 3 ECTS credits per month of study. Achieving sufficient ECTS credits will therefore not be linked to the receipt of financial funding in the Summer 2020 semester. No random recognition checks will subsequently be carried out by the National Agency. The international office at the student's home university will advise him/her on the recognition of academic achievements that he/she has already attained.

If classes and exams are postponed until the summer by individual universities or higher education institutions, some students are worried that they will not be able to attend as they have arranged holiday jobs, placements, etc. What possible solutions might there be?

15 March 2020

At present, it is not clear whether and to what extent classes and exams will have to be postponed until the summer months. The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research has already asked universities and higher education institutions to demonstrate as much goodwill as possible when dealing with students' concerns. Appropriate solutions must be developed with this in mind.

I am worried that if my civilian service is extended, I will not be able to prepare for the upcoming entrance exam. Will the exams still go ahead on the scheduled dates?

17 March 2020

Unfortunately, we cannot currently say with certainty how long COVID-19 will continue to cause disruption for schools and universities. As things currently stand, it is likely that at least some admission procedures will be postponed. Only when this issue has been clarified can valid statements be made about the preparation times available.

I would like to volunteer for emergency civilian service (ausserordentlicher Zivildienst), but am worried that I will lose my student grant or similar (family allowance, housing allowance, etc.) as a result. How will the payment I receive for civilian service affect the additional earnings limit? If this results in my studies being extended, what will happen about tuition fees if I am liable for contributions?

17 March 2020

Students are not normally entitled to receive student grants for the months in which they perform more than two weeks' civilian service. This means that if you perform emergency civilian service between now and Easter, you will not lose any money because there are fewer than two weeks in both March and April during this period. If you carry out emergency civilian service for longer than two weeks in April, your student grant for April must be stopped or paid back.
The period of entitlement is extended automatically by one semester if you perform at least six months' civilian service (including emergency civilian service). If you cannot achieve the required academic success as a result of performing civilian service, this situation can be recognised as an important factor. If necessary, student support may also be granted. Payment received for civilian service is not taken into account in a student's income. The Federal Ministry of Labour, Family and Youth is responsible for family allowance.
Universities and higher education institutions generally have the option to specify cases in which tuition fees can be waived. Of course, this also applies in particular to hardship cases of this kind.

I have paid tuition fees for the current semester and am no longer receiving anything in return. How will this be dealt with?

18 March 2020

At the moment, it is not possible to conclusively assess the impact of COVID-19 on higher education - in terms both of what is taught and when. Where possible, classes have been moved online; there is also a possibility that classes could be made up at a later date. Moreover, universities and higher education institutions generally have the option to specify cases in which tuition fees can be waived. Of course, this also applies in particular to hardship cases. The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research is carefully monitoring the situation and is in constant contact with the universities and higher education institutions. Should further measures be required to mitigate the current situation, these will be taken in good time.

General recommendations for stays abroad

The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research is bound in all of its recommendations by the specific regional government recommendations of the Federal Ministry of European and International Affairs.

In general, it is recommended that Austrians who are abroad register via the following link: https://ias.bmeia.gv.at/reiseregistrierung/. As soon as registration is completed, you will be contacted by the relevant embassy in the event of an emergency. Those who are currently in affected countries should contact the competent Austrian representation authority (Austrian embassy or consulate general) so that the embassy has the necessary contact information.

Interruption/postponement of an actual study visit abroad

Please contact the international office of your university or higher education institution and - if you are receiving a scholarship from the Austrian Exchange Service (OeAD) - the OeAD at anfragen@oead.at.

Information on mobility funding from the Austrian Exchange Service (OeAD GmbH)

Mobility programmes will continue to be funded as before. Current stays in countries affected by COVID-19 can be interrupted or postponed. Any costs incurred can be claimed from the OeAD on the basis of force majeure if they are within the amount of the grant. This also applies if the minimum academic requirement has not been achieved due to earlier departure.

Student accommodation

For the time being, there is no legal reason to terminate accommodation contracts that have already been concluded. In the case of guests who have visited affected areas within the last 14 days, the precautionary recommendations of the Federal Ministry of Health should be followed.

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Coronavirus (COVID-19): FAQ on legal issues (state aid, education law)

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The measures have been adopted with consideration for the health of the population and are designed to protect students. Lectures will be moved online as far as possible or postponed if necessary. Where possible, students should not suffer any disadvantages. Ultimately, there is no alternative but to enforce the current restrictions.

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The COVID-19 crisis from a global citizenship perspective 

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The COVID-19 crisis from a global citizenship perspective 

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Article from Werner Wintersteiner

Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution –
ASPR Schlaining

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The coronavirus pandemic can empower us to demand change

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The coronavirus pandemic can empower us to demand change

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As I try to pass time in lockdown in Italy and come to terms with the new normal in my country, I often think about my grandmother and the 1943 degree certificate that was once on display in her living room. "Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy and Albania, Emperor of Ethiopia", the certificate proclaimed in flowery characters, "grants the degree of doctor to ... ". The document is a testament to human resilience. The fact that a young woman managed to complete a degree at the height of World War II, under a rain of bombs, in fascist Italy, reminds me that humans are capable of achieving great things under impossible circumstances.

I also think of that degree certificate today because it is from a time when it was not "business as usual" in Europe. It is from a time when a catastrophe came and changed everything. After the end of WWII, people living in most Western democracies did not face another threat grave enough to make them drastically alter the way they live. There have been widespread protests, political crises, and a few natural disasters, but in general, life went on as usual for many.

That is, until 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic that is taking the world by storm, with Europe as its new epicentre, interrupted daily life in the West in a way that was not seen in recent history. Of course, the level of devastation is nowhere near what our grandparents experienced during the world wars. Nevertheless, life is at a standstill in many countries. Shops, cafes, bars and restaurants are closed. Schools and universities are shut down. Airports are deserted. Business districts are empty. Almost overnight, people changed the way they live completely.

"Not since the end of the Second World War," as the president of the European Parliament David Sassoli stated bluntly , "have we faced such a dramatic crisis." Until today, us Europeans watched wars, droughts, coups, revolutions and epidemics from a distance, and participated in them only remotely through appeals, donations and demonstrations. Now, however, the crisis is at our doorstep and it is changing our lives. Could this be a chance for us to finally take action to address the critical global challenges of our time?

In recent years, it has repeatedly been argued that the Western world is not capable of changing its ways and responding efficiently to threats. As neoliberal dogma pushed for a shrinking role for public intervention, western democracies indeed appeared belittled by the free market and trampled over by a web of corporate interests and financial flows.

But the coronavirus pandemic, and the way Europe responded to it, raised hopes that change is possible.

The current Italian government is the embodiment of the problems facing Western democracies today - weak, chaotic, often inconclusive. And yet, in the face of an existential crisis, it succeeded in imposing a nation-wide quarantine, organising parts of the economy to tackle shortages and reinvesting in public services. Meanwhile, the Italian people, who are as invested in the current world order as any other Western nation, came together and changed their way of life to help eradicate the virus.

A deeply polarized country led by a weak coalition government is now discovering reservoirs of power and resilience that it probably never thought it had. And what is happening in Italy is no isolated case: Spain, for instance, has just passed legislation allowing it to take over all private healthcare providers in the country - another policy that flies right in the face of decades of free-market fundamentalism.

"We've seen that governments can act, and people can change their behaviour, in a very short amount of time," said May Boeve, director of the climate movement . And, they can do so against an economic model that once appeared impossible to challenge.

As people responded to the threat posed by the pandemic, they demonstrated that it is possible to rapidly and drastically transform our system and societies.

What if we now carried this awareness beyond the present emergency? This is an urgent question because there is a great global economic depression looming on the horizon. Potentially, it can lead to more wars, increased authoritarianism and yet greater economic injustice. Or it can empower us to demand a much-needed transformation of a system in crisis.

The case for addressing the climate crisis with similar urgency is already being made . Indeed, in China, where pollution is thought to cause up to 1.6 million premature deaths a year, recent studies have argued that the reduction in pollution caused by the COVID-19 lockdown may have saved 50,000 lives. We changed the way we live, work and travel to counter this pandemic, why can we not do the same to counter the climate emergency? Why should we go back to a deadly status quo now that we know it is within our power to transform the way we live and organise our economy and society?

Take, for instance, our reliance on public services. After years of unrestrained neoliberalism, in the face of this pandemic, we realised that our security, wellbeing and prosperity depends more on strong and well-funded public services than multinational cooperations. While doctors, nurses and other workers from our national health services have been working day and night to save us, billionaire owners of multinationals have escaped to their bunkers. Redistribution of wealth, fair taxation and increased welfare is now a matter of national security.

Or take the question of work. As tens of millions of individuals are now switching to remote work from home, we might just realise how unnecessary and outdated our conception of labour used to be. In many cases, although of course not all, it is possible to work at least in part without spending hours commuting and polluting.

And as we stay home, with no childcare and no cleaners, we are rediscovering the absolute importance of care work - one of the most undervalued and ignored contributions to society. This is an occasion to understand that unpaid care work and underpaid cleaners and teachers are more valuable to our society than hedge funders and investment bankers, and to revise the economic reward each gets from society.

My grandparents' generation not only graduated under bombs but also lived through the extraordinary transformation that followed the second world war. They witnessed a fascist regime give way to a thriving democracy; a dramatically unjust economic system being torn down and transformed into the post-war social compromise that built the welfare state. They witnessed the official rejection of institutional racism and the emergence of multiculturalism.

The current crisis is not as catastrophic as a world war. But its effects will be far-reaching, and the risk of an economic and geopolitical collapse is real. We can, however, emerge at the end of this tunnel with the first vestiges of a new world. The opportunity is there for us to seize, and we must start work on it now. At the very least, we now know we have the power to do so.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lorenzo Marsili

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The coronavirus pandemic can empower us to demand change

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As I try to pass time in lockdown in Italy and come to terms with the new normal in my country, I often think about my grandmother and the 1943 degree certificate that was once on display in her living room.

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3 predictions for a world after Covid-19

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3 predictions for a world after Covid-19

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I watched "Contagion", Steven Soderbergh's smart and eerily prescient modern classic over the weekend. It chronicles the events that follow the outbreak of a fictional pathogen called MEV-1.

It makes for scary viewing in today's age of the novel coronavirus. In it, parts of the world descend into chaos, social norms disintegrate and the rule of law is largely ignored. At the end, millions die before a vaccine is devised.

There are many parallels that can be drawn with what's happening today.

We are getting pummelled into submission by a killer virus - now named Covid-19 - that's wreaking global havoc on a scale we haven't seen in a long while. Some experts say it is already worse than the 2008 financial crisis and that when the carnage is over, it'll even overtake the Great Depression of the 1930s.

We are heading towards uncharted territory. The last time we had a pandemic, tens to hundreds of millions died. But it happened exactly 100 years ago and in the words of the wise Galadriel from "Lord of the Rings": "None now live who remember it."

Here are three key ways the world is likely to change after this global upheaval:
Virtual everything
My girlfriend's mother is an avid yoga practitioner, so I thought our two-week long movement control order (MCO) would be a real dampener to her daily practice. But oh how wrong I was. Her yoga teacher simply opted for an online Zoom Video-facilitated yoga class.

This is the future.

Classes that were traditionally taught in person will increasingly have an online elective. This trend will start with higher education but will cascade into schools as well. Private schools will be the first to adopt it, thanks to their wealth of technology equipment.

China's Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, has shown us the way. Students are barred from going to school and so they use DingTalk, an app that allows them to attend classes remotely.

But the change won't be confined to education.

The pandemic has forced bosses and employees to look at the possibility of doing work from home, especially work that can be done online.

Malaysia and the world will start to realise that with most types of work, productivity doesn't dip when the employee works from home as long as he/she is kept accountable for the work completed.

This will make employers more comfortable with work-from-home arrangements. So, we are going to see more people working from home in the future.

Some events will start migrating online as people realise the amazing cost savings and greatly minimised risk associated with it. Meetings that were once thought to need face-to-face interaction will now be deemed more efficient if done online.

Already, many meetings are being held online via Skype and other means.

The spike in classes, meetings, work and events being done online will spur growth in a key area of technology that's currently relegated to a niche - virtual reality (VR). More and more, people will yearn for the immersive experience of actually being in a place without having to physically transport themselves there.

This increase in demand will act as a forcing function that'll finally cause VR technology to mature, lowering its costs and bringing it mainstream - something that's been the unfulfilled dream of many for a long time.
Globalisation vs localisation
Today's world is intricately and intimately interconnected. What a person does in Wuhan affects people elsewhere too, as we have seen. This is the result of a decades-long trend in globalisation after World War II, which only accelerated after the Cold War.

It has resulted in unprecedented prosperity, lifting billions out of subsistence living and poverty. It has also ensured that humanity isn't ensnared in another major conflict that'll rattle global supply chains and flatten the GDP of many countries as countries are too reliant on each other to risk all-out war.

Globalists have been gloating for a while now, lauding themselves on the success of their system.

But it's not all good news. Globalisation results in interdependence. Interdependence means nations often don't see the need to have redundancy built into the system. Running out of rice? We'll just buy more from Thailand. Running out of steel? We'll just buy more from China.

The problem is, what happens when they can't ship any to you due to some sort of global crisis that throws a wrench into long-established supply chains - like the coronavirus pandemic we're battling now?

The current situation is a classic example. Malaysia can't produce enough face masks to meet local demand so we're forced to buy 10 million of them from China. We're lucky China has contained the disease and can afford to sell us the face masks. We might not be so lucky next time.

This type of frailty in the system will force nations to rethink the virtues of untethered globalisation. I see a future where many nations will adopt a hybrid approach where the production of important national security items such as medical equipment and essential food supplies are increasingly localised.
East challenges West
If I had told you a year ago that Italy would be the country most affected by a pandemic, you'd likely have said that I was talking nonsense. But that's exactly what has happened. Western nations such as Italy, Spain, the UK and the US are the ones bearing the brunt of the Covid-19 wave right now.

Which are the countries or regions that have most successfully contained it? China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

This is a subtle marker of a shift in global dominance. Since the disintegration of the USSR, the US - which wields immense power, both soft and hard - had been the world's sole superpower.

In the past, it took the lead in fighting epidemics, the most recent example being the 2014 Ebola outbreak. Not anymore.

Donald Trump's ascend to the top job signalled the beginning of nationalism and populism taking centre stage. The US began looking inward and foreign engagements have been, to some extent, put on the back burner.

This has left a void on the world stage - a void that China is yearning to fill.

Partly in a bid to flaunt its capability and partly to try to change the narrative of the coronavirus pandemic for which it is widely being blamed and bludgeoned, China has sent medical supplies and doctors to Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Iran and Iraq, among other countries.

Even Malaysia has been a beneficiary, recently receiving 115,000 face masks, hand sanitisers and other medical equipment from China. It has also pledged to provide 3,500 testing kits.

Given the way countries such as Korea, Taiwan and Singapore have handled the pandemic, and given China's prowess and India's potential, I suspect the East will play a more dominant role in world affairs in the near future.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT. CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST DATA ON THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA

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3 predictions for a world after Covid-19

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I watched "Contagion", Steven Soderbergh's smart and eerily prescient modern classic over the weekend. It chronicles the events that follow the outbreak of a fictional pathogen called MEV-1. It makes for scary viewing in today's age of the novel coronavirus. In it, parts of the world descend into chaos, social norms disintegrate and the rule of law is largely ignored.

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Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by CSSE

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Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by CSSE