JOINT PRESS RELEASE BY HRK AND DSW
- German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) and the German National Association for Student Affairs (DSW) formulate their most important demands to the next federal government
- HRK President Walter Rosenthal: “Education and research policy must play a key role”
- DSW President Beate Schücking: “Students need affordable housing, a strong BAföG programme and modern, climate-friendly canteens”
At a joint event, the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) and the German National Association for Student Affairs (DSW) outlined what they consider to be the most important and pressing tasks on the research and higher education policy agenda of the upcoming federal government.
HRK President Prof Dr Walter Rosenthal explains: “Universities make a vital contribution to prosperity, social cohesion and democracy in Germany. They are the centres of the research and innovation system and train the academic qualified professionals and leaders of tomorrow. Federal policy must consistently recognise the special importance of universities for the future of our country and, together with the federal states, make the higher education system fit for the future. In the coming legislative period, we therefore expect bold steps to be taken, in particular to reduce the bureaucracy that unnecessarily hampers research and for the federal government to provide a truly comprehensive research and innovation funding scheme. It is essential to effectively safeguard and strengthen teaching and learning as well as the social framework conditions for studying, including a structural reform of the Federal Training Assistance Act (BAföG), which are necessary for greater equality of opportunity and educational justice. And we need targeted measures to clear the backlog of renovation and modernisation work on university buildings and infrastructure, which has long since become unsustainable. Education and research policy must play a key role in the actions of a new federal government in order to tackle the diverse challenges of the present and future.”
DSW President Prof Dr Beate A. Schücking said: “Rent, inflation, food – the costs are putting students under pressure. On average, they have to spend 54 per cent of their income on rent, more than twice as much as the population as a whole. We risk creating a new form of social selection via rent. First of all, the joint federal and state government programme ‘Young Housing’ must be consolidated and expanded. It has the potential to provide real relief. Secondly, we need a fundamental reform of BAföG. Currently, it reaches too few students and does not even provide enough to live on. With the current flat-rate housing payment of € 380, you can barely afford a room in a shared flat in any university city. BAföG must be automatically and regularly adjusted to prices and income trends and the application process must be simplified and fully digitalised. Thirdly, federal and state governments must jointly launch a refurbishment programme for climate-neutral universities. Such a programme for the climate-neutral campus of the future must include the university catering facilities of the student service organisations. The investment requirement for the energy-efficient refurbishment of canteens and cafeterias is up to € 4 billion for the federal government over the next four years.”
HRK demands for the Bundestag elections (in German)
DSW demands (in German)
Contact person for the media at the DSW:
Stefan Grob, +49 (0) 30 2977 2720, +49 (0) 163 29 77 272,
stefan.grob@studierendenwerke.de
