Scholarships and funding programs: How the federal government cuts science

Oliver Neuroth
ARD Capital Studio

@ONeuroth
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6000 DAAD scholarships are at risk

The 26-year-old needs a scholarship to finance it, he had hoped for the DAAD. It is frustrating to hear that thousands of scholarships could now be lost, says Jorge. Fellow students who went to Japan this year received support from the DAAD. He hardly has any hope for his semester abroad.

The German Academic Exchange Service is an institution when it comes to the international promotion of science and research: more than 350 colleges and universities are networked and cooperate through it, in 2021 almost 135,000 researchers received financial support. The Federal Foreign Office is one of four major donors. From there, the DAAD received 204 million euros last year. The federal cabinet has now decided to cut the funds to 195 million euros this year. In 2023, the funding amount is to drop to 191 million.

DAAD President Joybrato Mukherjee speaks of a significant financial cut. Up to 6,000 scholarships for students are threatened. In addition, there would be lectureships at foreign universities which, among other things, are dedicated to German as a foreign language: the DAAD will probably no longer be able to fill vacancies in this area, which would mean that around 80 lectureships would be eliminated.

In addition, lecture and conference trips for around 5,000 researchers would have to be canceled. “That destroys trust and the basis for scientific cooperation between the Federal Republic of Germany and partner institutions,” says Mukherjee in an interview with the ARD Capital Studio.

Coalition agreement promise broken

The federal government’s coalition agreement does not provide for any cuts in this area. On the contrary: “We will increase the institutional funding of the German Academic Exchange Service and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in line with the Pact for Research and Innovation.”

The Federal Foreign Office reacts cautiously to the criticism of the researchers. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock emphatically campaigned in the budget negotiations to ensure that sufficient funds were made available for foreign cultural and educational policy even in times of international crises, a spokesman said on request. Nevertheless, the budget of the Foreign Office is also affected by savings – and thus also the intermediary organizations, to which the DAAD belongs.

Ministries justify cuts

The Federal Ministry of Education faces similar problems. The house of FDP Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger has stopped several funding programs at universities and has had to take massive criticism for it. In open letters, researchers complain about “problematic tendencies” and “cynical cuts”. The Ministry of Education does not say how many projects and what sums are involved.

According to a spokeswoman, these are individual projects that are only funded for a limited time anyway. Nothing will be stopped or broken off prematurely – in some cases only follow-up financing cannot be promised. The financial year is now characterized by “particular challenges,” said the spokeswoman. In addition, the debt brake must be complied with again in 2023.

“A few million is nothing!”

Researchers are venting their anger on social networks. Former DAAD scholarship holders report what they owe to the funding. Student Jorge Gonzáles from Cologne fears that the federal government’s austerity policy could damage Germany as a location for science in the long term. Everyone knows that research thrives on international exchange, he says: “We’re talking about a few million euros a year here. That’s nothing for a state budget!”

DAAD President Mukherjee still has hope that the cuts have not yet been sealed. Finally, the Bundestag still has to vote on the budget. Borrowing a quote from former Defense Minister Peter Struck, according to which no law comes out of parliament the way it was introduced, Mukherjee says: “No budget goes into the Bundestag the way it comes out later.”