Both Amnesty International and Scholars at Risk currently report that the Swedish-Iranian academic Dr Ahmadreza Djalali, who has been under arrest in Iran since April 2016, is facing imminent execution. In light of this development, HRK-President Peter-André Alt has reiterated his call to quash the death sentence against Dr Djalali and to release him from custody without delay.

The veto by the Polish and Hungarian governments yesterday evening has caused the collapse of negotiations on the next financial framework of the European Union. The compromise previously reached by the EU member states and the European Parliament, which would have defined the EU budget for the next seven years up to and including 2027, for the time being is off the table. Among the areas affected are the European Union’s investments in research and education.

On 4 November 1990, just one month after German reunification, the plenary assembly of the former West German Rectors’ Conference (WRK) welcomed 21 universities from the five new federal states and the former East Berlin. From then on, it regarded itself as the representative body for all universities in Germany and accordingly changed its name to “Hochschulrektorenkonferenz (German Rectors’ Conference, HRK)”.

On behalf of its member universities, the HRK condemns the attack on Kabul University on 2 November, in which, according to media reports, 22 university members were killed and the same number injured. "Attacks on universities and their members are always also attacks on academic freedom and free thinking," said HRK President Alt.

The HRK fully endorses the Appeal of the European University Association (EUA) and the European Students’ Union (ESU) published today. “The recent threats made by Aleksandr Lukashenko against students and teaching staff of Belarusian universities who participated in the protests opposing the continuation of his presidency are very alarming,” says HRK President Prof Dr Peter-André Alt.

The HRK has published the latest figures on degree programmes and admission restrictions. They are based on information entered by universities in the HRK Higher Education Compass as at 1 September 2020, as well as additional statistical material. In the current 2020/2021 winter semester, admission restrictions apply to 40.8 per cent of the around 10,700 undergraduate degree programmes. This represents a decrease of 1.5 percentage points compared to the previous winter semester.