Hessian Higher Education Pact

Funding is largely provided by the state of Hesse - with annual basic funds and project-related additional funds for digitization and construction projects. Other sources of income are third-party funds (grants, research projects from the federal government, EU and private foundations). The Higher Education Pact 2026-2031 also provides for the flexible use of all state funds for universities. They receive their budget as a lump sum and are responsible for deciding how it is distributed. However, this also means that the implementation of cuts is the responsibility of the individual universities.

The Hessian Higher Education Pact is the central funding agreement between the state of Hesse and the 14 state universities. The aim of the pact concluded on July 17, 2025 for the years 2026 to 2031 is to create planning security and reliable framework conditions in economically strained times.

This budget will be used to finance the personnel costs of all state employees as well as the budgets for materials, building maintenance, central facilities, etc. The new Higher Education Pact provides for an expanded base budget that replaces numerous previous individual pots and funding lines. This increases flexibility for the universities: requirements and bureaucracy are reduced. The state allocates 18.1% of the funds on the basis of performance criteria. The number of new students, students completing their studies within the standard period of study, doctoral students and research successes all play a role here. Particularly successful universities therefore receive proportionately more money. In addition, the universities raise funds from federal research funding programs, the EU, private foundations and through cooperation with industry, known as third-party funding.

Personnel costs are by far the largest expenditure item and dominate university budgets: around 70-75% of university budgets are used for wages, salaries and social security contributions for Professors, academic and non-academic staff, as is the case at the University of Kassel. The remaining funds are used to cover operating expenses, equipment, services, infrastructure and ongoing expenses in teaching and research.

The state is demanding a consolidation contribution from the universities from 2026, as tax revenues in Hesse have slumped significantly. In addition, the increases in personnel costs in 2026 will not be financed by the state. Although state funding for the higher education sector will nominally increase again each year from 2028, this will not cover cost increases. The universities have therefore added a protocol note in which they criticize the cuts. The University of Kassel's medium-term financial planning currently forecasts a structural annual deficit of around 14 million euros for the coming years, meaning that cost-saving measures are necessary.

Across-the-board cuts (lawnmower principle) should be avoided wherever possible and at best used to bridge short-term funding gaps. This approach is supported by the Senate and the University Council. Consolidation will take place gradually over several years in order to maintain the ability to react flexibly to further developments. Almost two thirds of the savings will be made in the short term (by 2028) through the elimination of professorships, structural adjustments and central consolidation measures. This will be done in coordination with the departments, the School of Art, the administrative areas and the central facilities. Maintaining the University of Kassel's functionality, study quality and academic performance is the top priority.

The Hessian Higher Education Pact for the years 2026-2031 makes a downsizing of the University of Kassel unavoidable: The structural deficit of around €6 million per year already existing under the previous Hessian Higher Education Pact 2021-2025, which results in particular from the pay increases that will take effect from 2026, will not be offset. Instead, a consolidation contribution to the state budget is required by reducing the base budget by around €3 million and no percentage increase in this reduced base budget is promised in 2026 and 2027. The budget increases agreed for the years 2028-2031 will not be sufficient to fully offset the expected price and wage increases in these years, meaning that the University of Kassel's medium-term financial planning currently forecasts a structural annual deficit of around 14 million euros without savings measures. This is 7.5 % of the personnel budget.

The University of Kassel has provided the state of Hesse with around 38 million euros from its reserves for construction and infrastructure projects. According to the current status, the funds will be returned gradually from 2026 and must be used by the university for investments (scientific infrastructure, building maintenance, energy efficiency measures, etc.).

According to the Hessian Higher Education Act, the university management is responsible for economic planning and the allocation of budgets. However, cooperation with the Senate at the University of Kassel is close and based on trust.

At a closed Senate meeting on April 9, 2025, which was held in a participatory workshop format, the Executive Board presented its strategy to the Senate. It was given the opportunity to review, supplement and expand it.

At the meeting, the Executive Board first outlined the need to make savings and emphasized that the university management was politically opposed to budget cuts, but wanted to be prepared in the event that cuts could not be prevented. The fundamental decision to proceed according to criteria as far as possible was discussed first. If possible, there should be no percentage cuts across all areas ("lawnmower principle"). This strategy-led approach was broadly supported by the senators. The criteria were then presented, discussed and amended or supplemented on the basis of information and arguments from the Senate.

In the subsequent Senate meeting on April 23, 2025, the results of the closed meeting, in particular the changes made, were discussed once again. In the joint discussion on April 30, 2025, this result was presented to the deans, who did not raise any fundamental objections. The strategy was thus finalized before the Higher Education Pact was signed on July 17,

In its overall responsibility for the university, the Presidential Board considers it its duty to re-establish a reliable basis for the further development of the university under the changed framework conditions as soon as possible. The Senate of the University of Kassel has also been working on strategic consolidation since April 2025. Criteria for research, teaching, infrastructure and campus were jointly developed in order to compensate for the foreseeable deficits in the university budget. The following principles provide orientation:

• As few across-the-board cuts as possible, and strategic consolidation instead.
• In terms of their quantitative scope, the cutbacks in central administration follow the logic used to build up staff in 2021. The ratio thus corresponds to approx. 1:3.5 positions between administration and central institutions on the one hand and specialist departments on the other.

• Anchor criterion: Teaching workload on average over the last three years (%), i.e. subject-specific weighted ratio of teaching supply and demand, including teaching export to other degree programs
• First-year students in their first semester on average over the last three years (cases)
• Students in standard period of study on average over the last three years (cases)
• Costs per study place, actual costs in relation to calculated costs at 100% capacity according to cost unit accounting
• Number of degrees
• Graduation rate for teacher training/ Bachelor, starting cohorts 2016-2018
• Master's degree completion rate, starting cohorts 2018-2020
• Ø LOMZ-eligible third-party funding per professor in a nationwide comparison of subjects (LOMZ = performance-oriented allocation of funds according to state criteria) (euros)
• Ø LOMZ-eligible third-party funding per number of state academic positions (Prof. and WB) in a nationwide comparison of subjects
• LOMZ-eligible third-party funding in collaborative projects (%)
• Number of doctoral students in the teaching unit
• Number of doctorates and habilitations
• Number of doctorates per professor in a nationwide comparison of subjects
• Significance for profile development (especially research priorities)
• Regional and (inter-) national cooperation
• External requirements/obligations (e.g. contracts, special funding)
• Ongoing plans for research and teaching (e.g. new degree programs)

Study programs are not currently being closed. Decisions on which teaching units are affected by cuts will be made gradually and in a coordinated manner during the consolidation process. Separate Executive Board resolutions will be passed on the cost-cutting measures, making it clear which areas will be included in the measures and how.

When making their decision, the Senate and the Executive Board were aware that a decision based on criteria such as course utilization, research strength, relevance for research priorities, doctorates and international networking would lead to different approaches to cuts in the various departments. Overall, the differences between teaching units are considerable, especially in terms of student demand. Professorships that become vacant in less busy subjects are not advertised in some cases. The state's austerity measures are forcing the University of Kassel to make decisions that it would certainly not make if it had sufficient financial resources.

The university management cannot understand the accusations that cost-cutting measures are a permanent state of affairs at the University of Art and Design and that it is not being sufficiently recognized in its own right with the current cutbacks. Neither the number of professorships nor the allocation of material resources has been cut at the University of Art and Design in the past ten years; on the contrary, both the number of professorships and the allocation of material resources have increased. The investment of 4.6 million euros in a new exhibition hall designed by Innauer Matt Architekten also demonstrates the appreciation of the KHK and the work carried out there. When calculating the workload of the degree courses at the art academy as the basis for the current cost-saving measures, an adjusted supervision ratio is applied in teaching, which takes into account the high level of supervision required in artistic teaching.

The state's austerity measures are forcing the University of Kassel to make decisions that it would certainly not make if it had sufficient financial resources. This includes the painful decision not to continue to fill the so-called Grimm professorship. Whether and to what extent Grimm research can be continued will be clarified by the time the professor retires in 2031. The deletion is not associated with any evaluation of the work carried out to date, the importance of which for Grimm research in Kassel is undisputed. The University is grateful to the donors who provided start-up funding when the professorship was established in 2011. However, the professorship is now fully financed by the university from state funds. Due to the state's austerity measures, it is not possible to continue the temporary Grimm professorship from these funds. The university management very much regrets this.

1. Stage: The savings at this stage serve to relieve the budget in the short term until structural savings can take effect. The implementation of these measures has already begun. At level 1, for example, early successors to professorships are canceled, rentals are not made or investments are not made. If unavoidable, reserves are released or temporary job vacancies are used to bridge financial gaps.
2. Stage: Measures at this stage are intended to achieve approx. 2/3 of the required savings volume.
3. Stage 2: The remaining third is to be saved gradually over the next few years.

For measures in stages 2 and 3 , teaching units and administrative structures are systematically analyzed according to jointly agreed criteria. The necessary measures will take effect where tasks have to be discontinued for cost reasons or where imbalances between supply and demand need to be compensated. At the present time, it is planned not to fill certain administrative positions and subject areas (professorships) or not to fill them again. However, all degree courses are currently being retained.

With this staggered approach, the University of Kassel wants to keep the option open to make adjustments and adapt the measures to the respective circumstances.

Yes, jobs have to be cut, both in administration and central facilities as well as in the departments. The University of Kassel is not currently assuming that there will be a general job freeze. The Presidential Board is pursuing controlled personnel planning: tasks are being dispensed with and the affected positions are not being refilled.

Yes, the material budgets (e.g. for operating resources, equipment, services) of the individual organizational units will also be reduced. The exact amount and timing of the cuts are currently being determined in internal university consolidation discussions.

Yes, reducing space (renting out unneeded buildings/floors) and densification (optimized use of space) are also the focus of cost-saving measures. Concrete plans are currently being drawn up by the university administration. The aim is to maintain functionality and reduce operating costs. The University of Kassel has already foregone some major projects in the run-up to the Higher Education Pact, such as the renovation of the Villa Rühl. It has also withdrawn from the important urban development project of the Hansa Houses, into which it wanted to move as an anchor tenant with the Kassel Institute for Sustainability.