Again more students at the University of Kassel

As of October 9, 22,765 men and women are enrolled at the University of Kassel in the 2013/14 winter semester. In the previous winter semester, 22,084 students were enrolled, then also more than ever before. The final figures will not be available until mid-November at the earliest, but strong changes are no longer expected.

"We are pleased about the great interest in our range of courses and warmly welcome the new students," said University President Prof. Dr. Rolf-Dieter Postlep. "This demand is a sign of the high propensity of young people to study and at the same time further proof of the attractiveness of our university." A study published in July had shown that the University of Kassel has made significant gains in the public's esteem in recent years.

The number of newly admitted students in the beginning semester is 4,735. 3,406 of them are first-time enrollees, and 1,329 are new enrollees. 2,563 international students are enrolled according to these preliminary figures, representing 11.26 percent. 4,620 students are enrolled in a master's degree program, 1,192  of them in their first master's semester.

35 degree programs at the University of Kassel are subject to an NC this winter semester, including two master's programs. In total, the university currently offers 76 undergraduate and 59 master's degree programs.

For this winter semester, the University of Kassel received 26,329 applications for 3248 places in the degree programs with NC. In relation to the available study places, the Bachelor's program in Psychology received the most applications, namely 2,645 for 80 places. In absolute terms, the Social Work program received the most applications: 3,199 applications for 340 places.

Rentals and additional teaching staff

In the past five years, the number of students at the University of Kassel has increased by about 26.5 percent from 17,997 to now 22,765 (preliminary). "We continue to work at our capacity limits," Postlep emphasized. "To ensure that we can offer our students good conditions, we have made considerable efforts." To address the space shortage, the university is again renting space near its central campus at Holländischer Platz. Events will be held in places such as the Church of the Resurrection on Mombachstrasse, the lecture hall of the Kassel Clinic, the building of the Protestant Student Community and two halls of a movie theater. The Martinskirche in the city center will again be used for large introductory events. In addition, the departments offer many events in the early morning or in the evening.

In the medium term, a construction program is intended to alleviate the space shortage, which the university presented in April and which is financed by funds from the Higher Education Pact 2020: Among other things, it provides for the addition of one floor to the Engineering Sciences III building on Mönchebergstrasse. In the next few years, a number of new buildings will also be completed successively, financed by the state of Hesse with funds from the HEUREKA program. Postlep said it was urgent that the future state government of Hesse also secure funding for the planned move of the natural sciences and mathematics to the Holländischer Platz site: "In addition to a partial increase in capacity and fundamental modernization, the relocation of these departments to a central location also creates synergy effects in research and teaching." To date, the Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has been located in the Oberzwehren district.

The University of Kassel is also using funds from the Higher Education Pact 2020 for additional teaching staff. To this end, the university had also presented concrete measures in April, some of which were already implemented in the summer semester. For example, 26 temporary professorships were established, including twelve visiting professorships. Associated with these are additional positions for academic and administrative staff. Eight professorships are being filled early. In addition, five new positions have been created for teaching staff for special tasks.

University President Postlep expects student numbers to remain high for the foreseeable future. In addition to an increasing demand from young people for academic education, he said, this will also be helped by the fact that more professionals are returning to the university to continue their education. "At the University of Kassel, we are preparing to have very high student numbers in the longer term," Postlep said. "That's why it's important that universities get financial planning security. Instead of temporary funding programs, we need appropriately high and reliable basic funding and the continuation of the HEUREKA building programs. I therefore also expect a new federal government to reach an agreement with the states on how to contribute to this funding."

Images of the University of Kassel for free use:
http://www.uni-kassel.de/uni/universitaet/pressekommunikation/medienservice.html

Press release "University of Kassel significantly improves its reputation" :
www.uni-kassel.de/uni/nc/universitaet/nachrichten/article/uni-kassel-legt-im-ansehen-der-bevoelkerung-deutlich-zu.html

Press release "Higher Education Pact: Nearly 30 million euros for additional study places in Kassel" :
http://www.uni-kassel.de/uni/nc/universitaet/nachrichten/article/hochschulpakt-knapp-30-millionen-euro-fuer-zusaetzliche-studienplaetze-in-kassel.html

Contact:
Sebastian Mense
University of Kassel
Communications, Press and Public Relations
Tel.: +49 561 804-1961
E-mail: presse[at]uni-kassel[dot]de