What is it all about?
Background: In 2015, the Higher Education Financing Agreement I was agreed between the state government (BaWü) and the universities. This has a term of 5 years and therefore expires at the end of 2020. The aim was to support the universities financially with regard to the high numbers of students starting university due to the double high school education year and to guarantee the universities secure funding for the duration of the contract. It was expected that the number of students would decline again afterwards. However, this did not happen, so that the number of students continues to stagnate at a high level. The universities therefore continue to need financial support from the state and demand an increase in basic funding to ensure the quality of teaching in the coming years. The Higher Education Financing Pact II is therefore currently being negotiated between the universities and the state government.
The State Rectors' Conference (LRK) has compiled the demands of the universities and determined their basic needs to be an annual sum of € 1.6 billion. In addition, the universities are demanding an increase in funding for 2021 in the amount of €172 million in order to meet the current tasks such as digitisation and securing the infrastructure.
Currently, the state government is only providing €8 million for these tasks in 2021. This corresponds to about 4.7% of the required minimum sum. The already existing funding gap of currently 3540 € per student per year (due to inflation and in comparison to 1998) would widen even further. Despite the state's good economic situation and bubbling tax revenues, the state budget does not provide sufficient funding for the universities. Furthermore, the status quo could only be maintained with the funds budgeted by the LRK. With the funds that are to be allocated to the universities according to the current state of negotiations, teaching would probably be limited to the minimum. Offers such as tutorials, seminars, internships, preliminary courses, revision courses, extended library opening hours, the writing workshop, but also study places or entire study courses could be cancelled and dropped. The Landes-ASten-Konferenz, or LAK for short (AStA: the association of student representations of the universities in BaWü), supports the LRK's demands and has added others. These include: long-term personnel planning, building owner's rights for the universities, contract duration of ten years instead of only the previously planned seven. More can be found on the LAK's information page on this topic (see link below).
Since the basic funding estimated so far is far too low to maintain teaching at the universities in BaWü, many protest actions will take place in October 2019. On 17.10. students already demonstrated in Stuttgart (organised by the Tübingen medical faculty) and on 30.10. a state-wide day of action will take place. What exactly will be organised in Ulm is described below. All students are encouraged to participate nationwide.
Actions
17.10: Central demonstration in Stuttgart
On 17 October, students from Baden-Württemberg will take to the streets for the first time to demonstrate against the threatened cuts due to massive underfunding.
Participation in the demonstration will not be counted as time off for medical students. The other degree programmes are not included in this exemption by the medical dean's office.
Further information will follow here.
Check out: demo-hfv.de
23.10: Information evening with panel discussion
What exactly is the matter now? What are the positions of the various parties? These questions will be answered on 23 October from 6 p.m. in H22 at the information evening with panel discussion. All parties represented in the state parliament, their Ulm student groups and the president of our university have been invited.
Again in brief: 23 October, 6:00 p.m., H22
30.10: Nationwide day of action with demonstration
On 30 October, we will take to the streets of Ulm to bury our education, which has been murdered by politics. The protest march will start at 10:00 at the university and at 10:30 in front of the theatre. We ask all participants to come in black and the medical students in white coats.
Again briefly: 30.10: Demonstration in Ulm, 10:00 am meeting point Forum Uni Süd or 10:30 am meeting point Theater Ulm
At a glance
The future of teaching is in a bad way. Compared to 1998, a funding gap of €3,540 per student per year has developed, which urgently needs to be greatly reduced, but the state does not understand this. Massive cuts of various offers, such as tutorials, are threatened.
That is why we are taking to the streets to fight for better education at our university:
17 October: central demo in Stuttgart
23 October: Info evening with panel discussion
30 October: State-wide day of action with demo in Ulm