For the election to the Bundestag on 23 February 2025, the Executive Board of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) has named four central tasks in higher education policy to which the next federal government must give priority.
German universities expect bold steps to reduce bureaucracy and to ensure comprehensive, efficient, interministerially coordinated research and innovation funding. The dynamized Future Contract for Strengthening Studying and Teaching in Higher Education must continue to be substantially funded after 2027, the target year of the current agreement period, and in general the social framework conditions for studying must be improved, in particular through a fundamental reform of the Federal Training Assistance Act (BAföG) and support for student housing. In addition, to tackle the massive backlog of renovation and modernisation work in university construction and in research and teaching infrastructures, the HRK is calling for targeted federal funding programmes.
In view of the many pressing challenges that the new federal government must face, to the solution of which a contribution from academia is rightly expected, HRK President Prof Dr Walter Rosenthal explains:
“In the new legislature, education and research policy must play a key role in government action and consistently take into account the special importance of universities for the German education, research and innovation system. German universities need the support of the federal government to be able to contribute effectively to Germany's readiness for the future. Federal policy has too often fallen short of its potential in this respect. Universities are not only important for Germany's economic success and scientific and technological progress, but also for international cooperation, cultural life, social cohesion and the strength of liberal democracy. If we want to continue to have an effective, resilient and democratic Germany, we must strengthen education, research and transfer at universities.“
The HRK Executive Board’s demands paper
