Minister, there are constant complaints from the universities about the Bologna system.

Is that justified?

Reinhard Bingener

Political correspondent for Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Bremen based in Hanover.

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Under Bologna conditions, students have less freedom and more guidelines than before.

A university cannot be a school.

The digitization of teaching in the course of the pandemic could help us to break up the rather rigid structures, especially in the bachelor's degree.

It offers the chance of an opening, in which one can sometimes hear another professor on the same topic or attend events on a completely different topic.

One gets the impression that there is also a control problem: the EU comes up with something – and even years later nobody is able to catch the problems again.

At Bologna, we in Germany once again interpreted the EU requirements far too narrowly, especially at the beginning of the process, so that the original goals were difficult to achieve.

Above all, the recognition of academic achievements made at other universities does not always work properly.

This in turn limits mobility.

Difficulties with Bologna often begin even before you start at the university.

Right.

Those who leave school today often still want to study subjects such as "Architecture" or "History".

But then you have the choice between around 20,000 different courses.

Orientation is not always easy for young people.

At one point or another there is also a lack of structured information.

What is “Urban Design” about – is it more of an architecture?

Or climate change?

With the wide range of courses on offer, very good study advice is important.

Isn't the mistake already in the assumption that at the beginning of one's own studies one should know exactly where one will end up at the end?

That's why we have to create higher degrees of freedom again.

The density of the tests must not be too high.

Perhaps it would be better to schedule significantly fewer exams in the first two semesters that count towards the degree.

Especially since the many exams are also a challenge for the teachers.

Recently there has been a lot of discussion about the so-called cancel culture.

What do you think of events being attacked at universities in Lower Saxony just because the African studies scholar is white or works for the police?

These are attacks on academic freedom and freedom of opinion, which I, as Science Minister, strictly oppose.

I also don't understand some student representatives who question the legacy of their own movement by wanting a ban.

Experience has shown that hardly any student at universities is really interested in the topics of student representation.

But the AStA still has some influence.

Shouldn't we also talk about the democratic legitimacy of such bodies?

I don't question student participation.

It is ultimately up to the students themselves who represents them on the committees.

However, we still have to think about the issue of university governance.

There is often no more room for the ministerial level, so universities deal extensively with their inner constitution.

Whether this development only has good sides, I leave it open.

From my point of view, it is important that we reconsider some traditions.

In the new Lower Saxony Higher Education Act, we have created the opportunity to attract scholars with a high reputation without having to advertise and not scare them away with a lengthy appointment process.

We are therefore accused of undermining the democracy of the university.

But I stand by this step: We have to get faster.

The refurbishment backlog could also be resolved more quickly.

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