Higher school crisis in Berlin: Laws about cuts threaten!

Higher school crisis in Berlin: Laws about cuts threaten!

Oranienstraße 106, 10969 Berlin, Deutschland - In Berlin, the pressure on the state government is growing to comply with the university contracts concluded in 2024. This was clarified by an report from the scientific parliamentary service of the House of Representatives, which was commissioned at the initiative of the left faction. The expert opinion states that the contracts that are legally binding may not be terminated unilaterally and that the universities can file a lawsuit in the event of non -fulfillment by the Berlin Senate to enforce their claims. This could have serious financial consequences in particular for smaller universities.

The black and red coalition had reduced eight percent of their funds to the universities for 2023 at the end of 2022, although more money-specifically five percent-had been promised. Despite the tense budget situation, the House of Representatives decided at the end of 2024 to reduce the budget of Berlin's budget by more than 140 million euros. This means an impending deterioration in the quality and the offer of teaching, of which all universities are affected, in particular smaller facilities such as the university of the arts.

call to withdraw the cuts

A merger of university employees, students and unions calls for the reductions with the motto "universities are #uncomfortable". On May 7, 2025, talks took place between the universities and the Senate Department for Science, which dealt with the planned cuts. Science senator Ina Czyborra, who signed the new university contracts in April 2024, is under pressure to actually respect these agreements and not to be terminated one -sidedly. On the same day, a petition was handed over for which signatures were collected to express the displeasure of the planned cuts. ver.di reports .

The TU Berlin and the Academic Senate of the Humboldt University have already announced that they are filing an action if the talks with the Senate Administration do not have satisfactory results. The union secretary Julia Dück emphasizes the need to comply with the existing contracts and demands that the university management are supported to strengthen academic middle buildings. Dr. Constanze Baum also demands that reliable working conditions are created for employees so that the quality of teaching can continue to be guaranteed in the future.

The challenges that the Berlin universities are facing should not be underestimated. If the government does not provide the guaranteed funds, this could have long -term negative effects on the entire education system of the capital. The conflict of university contracts will shape the coming time and could be decisive for how the universities in Berlin can act in the next few years.