New Funding Package for German Universities

A new funding package for German universities has been announced, with a total of €25.3 billion (US$32 billion) in government funds allocated to higher education and research over the next six years.

The package, which was agreed by representatives of the federal government and the country’s 16 constituent states (länder), includes additional funding to help Germany universities cater for growing numbers of students, as well as support for publicly funded research. The proposed amount has yet to receive final approval from the country’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and chief ministers of the länder, but consensus seems likely.

This new funding proposal marks the country’s continued commitment to providing university education free of charge; earlier this year, Lower Saxony became the final state to scrap tuition fees.

Funding for more places at German universities

Student numbers at German universities have been growing rapidly in recent years, leading to the establishment of the Higher Education Pact, an initiative which aims to help institutions meet growing demand.  According to University World News, overall student numbers at German universities have increased from approximately 2.2 million to 2.6 million in nine years, with an additional 760,000 expected by 2020 – significantly more than the Pact initially planned for.

In response to this surge in demand, the federal and state governments are pledging to provide €26,000 per additional study place, to help German universities meet the rising costs of employing more faculty members, and expanding other resource provision.

In addition, members of the Joint Higher Education and Research Conference (Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz) have acknowledged a need to help institutions address worrying highly dropout rates in some subject areas, notably in the fields of mathematics and engineering. Andreas Keller, deputy chair of the Teachers’ and Scientists’ Union (Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft/ GEW), has suggested this would be best achieved by improved faculty-student ratios and student counselling services.

Continued investment in the Excellence Initiative

The new package also allows for continued investment in the Excellence Initiative, which aims to promote world-leading research at German universities. Initially agreed in 2005, the Excellence Initiative was due to end in 2017; it’s now set to continue to receive €530 million per year during the six years covered by the plan.

This element of the package has received both positive and critical responses. Horst Hippler, president of the German Rectors Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz), said, “The Excellence Initiative clearly revealed the potential of university-based research, which must be successfully promoted through performance-based funding without political input on planning.”

But the GEW’s Andreas Keller expressed concerns that funds invested in the Excellence Initiative may have been better allocated to the Higher Education Pact, saying, “What we need is an across-the-board expansion of higher education and general improvements in quality standards instead of top-level research beacons.”