With a view to the end of the lecture period, HRK President Peter-André Alt spoke about the prospects for the next semester: "Once again, I want to explicitly acknowledge the great achievements of the universities in coping with the pandemic. Their goal now is to enable on-campus study again in the coming winter semester 2021/22, as far as the framework conditions allow."

At today's strategy talk of university leaders with the EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, the HRK President Peter-André Alt underlined the importance of the European University Networks for German universities: "There is enormous potential for universities in cross-border cooperation. It helps to strengthen the international competitiveness of German universities, secure academic freedoms in Europe and develop a European identity."

BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) funding for the Hochschulforum Digitalisierung (HFD) - Forum for Higher Education in the Digital Age - will be extended until the end of 2025. The productive, cross-university exchange between university members of various status groups will thus continue in established as well as further developed and new formats. The services offered by the Forum for Higher Education in the Digital Age support universities in meeting the challenges of digitalisation. The focus is on students, teachers, support staff and university management.

During another online meeting, the Senate of the HRK discussed the prospects for the 2021/22 winter semester in light of the latest developments in the COVID-19 pandemic. "In view of the significant decrease in the number of infections and the widespread elimination of vaccination prioritisation, all those involved are increasingly hopeful that study conditions will gradually return to normal," said HRK President Peter-André Alt. "Universities want to take advantage of the newly available options for face-to-face lectures quickly and to the greatest extent possible."

Fuelled by the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Senate of the HRK gave concrete shape to a long-standing demand of the universities and adopted a detailed "Appeal to the federal government and states to further develop digital teaching infrastructures". "Students, teachers and university administrators have been committed to digital teaching for many years and have faced difficult challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic," says HRK President Peter-André Alt.

The Senate of the HRK has once again stressed the importance of reforming copyright law by removing the time limit from the regulations on research. It states that the removal of the time limit in particular will strengthen Germany in the long term as a research location. The Senate is very grateful to the parliamentarians involved for the shift towards improvements in copyright law that are tailored to academic needs during deliberations in the Bundestag.