Higher education under pressure - Why a democratic and just society needs resilient insititutions

Higher education institutions as well as their students and employees are under pressure worldwide - including in Germany. The BMBF funding scandal has made it clear how fragile the fundamental right of academic freedom is in Germany, far-right politicians are openly calling it into question. Hihger edcuation teachers and researchers are confronted with precarious employment conditions and insecure career paths, steep hierarchies and dependencies encourage abuse of power. The basic funding of higher education institutions is stagnating or even being cut, making academics dependent on third-party funding and contract research.
Inadequate student funding and poor student-teacher ratios lead to students dropping out of higher edcuation and deter many graduates from studying from the outset.
This development undermines the critical and innovative capacity of research, exacerbates the shortage of skilled workers and deepens unequal opportunities in accessing and completing higher education. However, a democratic and just society depends on resilient higher education institusions that can rely on established fundamental values such as academic freedom, institutional autonomy, collegial governance and participation, ensure good working and study conditions, give all people the same opportunities for a successful higher education, train highly qualified and critical specialists and provide future skills and know-how for the social and ecological transformation of the economy and society.
In our session, we would like to discuss with the participants what constitutes resilient universities and what foundations the federal government, the federal states and the individual universities can create for this.