The creation of a new figure in academia - the homo applicandus

Austrian universities have become quasi-enterprises the aim of which is to produce surpluses - whatever this means. In this neo-liberal concept figures and statistics have become relevant indicators of success and fiasco. As almost everywhere, the faculty of sciences is on the winning, the humanities are on the losing side. Since universities have not become real enterprises, of course, and their surpluses in knowledge production can never be actually evaluated, the acquaintance of third-party funded research has become crucial. Exposed to the constraints of being somehow profitable, a new type of academic entrepreneur has been emerging: the homo applicandus. This new type of academic is shaped by his or her capacity to develop competitive research projects, to write smart applications, to meet application deadlines of national and international third-party funded research programs and to manage as well as to execute research projects