Demonstration held at TU Darmstadt opposing the Hessian Higher Education Compact
The Higher Education Pact, a plan that sets the budget for universities in Hesse for the next five years, has been met with mixed reactions. The pact, worth approximately 2.29 billion euros, aims to provide planning security and reduce bureaucracy by consolidating multiple funding streams into a flexible lump sum budget. However, the pact includes a significant budget cut of around 30 million euros for 2026, impacting universities like TU Darmstadt.
The cuts at TU Darmstadt are significant. When adjusted for inflation, the university's budget remains at the 2010 level despite a 20% increase in student numbers and a 50% increase in third-party funding from research activities. The university anticipates a budget deficit due to rising personnel and operating costs, forcing it to implement cuts across all areas. University leadership fears these financial constraints will undermine innovation, competitiveness, and the ability to contribute effectively to economic development through research, teaching, and technology transfer.
The Hessian universities themselves have been demanding financial improvements from the state government for weeks. The proposed cuts could lead to significant restrictions in research and teaching, as well as job cuts at universities. Protests against the planned Higher Education Pact took place at the Technical University of Darmstadt, University of Kassel, University of Marburg, and the Goethe University in Frankfurt.
Organisations like GEW, ver.di, and various student representative bodies are against the planned Higher Education Pact and have called for nationwide rallies and protests. The SPD has initiated an inquiry into the city's contract awarding process for an advertising agency, known as "La Mina". The case remains unclear regarding whether the city acted correctly in awarding contracts, and the investigation does not appear to have provided a definitive resolution.
In a positive note, TU Darmstadt aims to use the available financial resources to strengthen and profile the university. The use of delivery drones for home deliveries represents a futuristic concept that could soon become a reality, potentially simplifying everyday life for students and staff. The university has set up a homepage with all relevant information about the developments and consequences of the Higher Education Pact.
The Higher Education Pact for 2026–2031 aims to create stable financial conditions, but the attached cuts and compressed budgets threaten the universities’ capacity to expand or even maintain their current levels of performance and growth. This financial pressure may lead to job losses and reduced services, although specific figures on job cuts have not been detailed in the available sources. The pact’s performance-based allocation tries to reward high-performing universities, but TU Darmstadt warns that the cuts endanger this model’s effectiveness, potentially diminishing Hesse's overall higher education quality and innovation strength.
- Other education-and-self-development institutions, such as the University of Kassel, University of Marburg, and Goethe University in Frankfurt, have also expressed concern over the proposed Higher Education Pact and have joined in the protests.
- The general news concerns the ongoing investigation into the city's contract awarding process for an advertising agency, known as "La Mina," which is being led by the SPD, but the case remains unclear regarding whether the city acted correctly in awarding contracts.
