Cuts to universities jeopardize Hessen's future

If you want to meet the challenges of economic, ecological and social transformation, you need one thing above all else: Competence.

Universities create the conditions for being successful in the future. They train the specialists and managers of tomorrow, create the basis for the attractiveness and development of Hessen as a business location with innovative research and find solutions for the economic, ecological and social challenges of our time, from the climate crisis to the migration society. As places where thousands of people, especially young people, learn and work, they are pillars of our democratic community. They are laboratories for the future of society. They shape the future of us all.

And yet, contrary to all assurances in the coalition agreement, universities are facing considerable financial losses: the pay rises alone will result in additional costs of 100 million euros per year from 2025. This sum corresponds to around 1,250 positions that have not yet been funded.

In addition, the state government is already cutting 34 million euros from the science budget for the current financial year 2024 with the current supplementary budget and is announcing further cuts for the coming year.

This will not lead to better supervision rates, excellent research or good and reliable working conditions.

On the contrary: if this money is missing, the universities will have to think about where they can cut jobs, no longer fill professorships and reduce academic disciplines and courses. The already ambitious goal of using the new collective agreement to attract the most competent and smartest minds to Hessian universities will thus become a waste of time.

It is now essential that the immense cost and pay rises of recent years are offset in the upcoming higher education pact negotiations for the years 2026 - 2030, that a reliable budget is drawn up and that funding mechanisms are simplified. The LandesAStenKonferenz and the Conference of Hessian Universities are therefore jointly calling for adequate and reliable funding for the Hessian university system, which will enable good teaching and innovative research and put young people in a position to start the future well equipped. Saving on science means saving on the future!

Contact:
Office of the KHU
Dr. Constanze Engel
Tel: 0561 804-2228
E-mail : khu-geschaeftsstelle@uni-kassel.de
Mönchebergstraße 19
34125 Kassel