Election check education for the Berlin election: What needs to change at universities – and what parties want to do for it – Berlin

Today 10:19 am

Digitization, student housing and fairer working conditions for researchers. What is planned for the Berlin universities.

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When it comes to higher education, there are a number of issues for students as well as for teachers and academic staff that the new government should address in the future. The election manifestos of the parties provide information about how different the priorities are.

University contracts

The first thing a new government in science has to deal with is negotiating new university contracts – because the old ones will only run until the end of 2022. The main issue here is whether the universities will receive more money, as in previous years. The old Senate has already decided on an increase of 3.5 percent for the double budget 2022/23. There is also a commitment to maintain this growth in the years beyond. However, this is not legally binding for a new government.

No party mentions a specific number in its election manifesto. The SPD, for example, promises “adequate” funding, the Greens want to “significantly increase the basic amount”. The SPD, the Left and the Greens are unlikely to be able to fall behind the promise of the current Senate, and the CDU and FDP are also signaling that they want to maintain the previous course. The university contracts could also be an instrument for all parties to push their numerous smaller individual projects.

Student living

The outgoing State Secretary Steffen Krach (SPD) recently described it himself as a failure in an interview with Tagesspiegel: The goal set by Klaus Wowereit in 2013 of building 5,000 new dormitory places has still not been achieved in Berlin and has even been halved. The fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult for incoming students to find affordable housing should be self-explanatory given the housing shortage in the city.

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While rents and apartments are one of the central topics of the election campaign, the topic of student dormitories is hardly considered separately by the parties. Only the SPD and CDU state that they want to “accelerate” the new building program for students.

digitalization

In the pandemic, universities had to digitize in a hurry. The debate about how much of digital teaching remains, which digital structures are also necessary in the long term in research and, above all, which resources the universities need for this, is more urgent than ever and was only triggered by the pandemic.

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The CDU is the most concrete and detailed here. Among other things, it wants to draw up a “strategic plan for digitization” together with the universities, which, in addition to more money, also aims at pedagogical and strategic issues. The SPD and the Greens promise, among other things, additional financial resources for digital teaching formats, while the Left and the FDP, which is otherwise always digitally-savvy, keep the topic rather tight.

Fair work

One of the big debates in science in recent weeks has been the working conditions – especially those of younger researchers, who usually have to work their way from one fixed-term contract to the next over the years. This was already high on the agenda for Red-Red-Green – and the promise of further improvements is once again central to all three parties.

The left, which deals with the topic the most intensively of all, is the only party to set a target for the proportion of permanent positions among academic staff: this is to increase to 45 percent (currently it is almost 35 percent). The CDU, on the other hand, does not mention the topic at all, the FDP only marginally: Among other things, it wants to “expand alternatives to the professorship”.

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Excellence

It was the greatest success of the current legislative period: the victory of the Berlin universities in the Excellence Strategy in 2019. Berlin is the only location with a network of its universities, the Berlin University Alliance (BUA). Accordingly, throughout Germany, we are also paying particular attention to how this Berlin network is developing. Just in time for the end of the legislative period, BUA 2026 must submit to an evaluation that will decide on further funding.

It is true that expanding the network is primarily a matter for the universities. However, good science policy that shows appreciation for the area helps enormously in competition. The coming years will lay the foundations for whether Berlin will stay on the road to success and whether the state will maintain its good standing in science.

The subject will depend on how science is weighted in the next coalition – and which personnel the parties will provide for the decisive positions for the successor to Science Senator and governing Michael Müller (SPD) and State Secretary Krach, both of whom are highly respected nationwide as science politicians are.

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