Hesse's state parliament opposition demands significantly more support for the universities in the state from black and green.

A little more funding everywhere is not a turning point, criticized the SPD university expert Daniela Sommer on Tuesday in the Hessian state parliament in Wiesbaden.

Despite the increase in funding, many problems remained unsolved.

Other opposition members of the Left, FDP and AfD parliamentary groups expressed similar criticism.

Science Minister Angela Dorn (Greens) had emphasized in her government statement, referring to the increased funds, that the coalition is investing more in higher education than any Hessian state government before. The universities have a social task of the highest relevance. "Universities are the heart of our knowledge society, they are the epicentres of social progress."

With its university strategy, the state ensures planning security and reliable financial guidelines. This would make the universities, colleges of applied sciences and art colleges fit for the future. Dorn named the university pact with a volume of around 11.5 billion euros for the years 2021 to 2025, the increased university building program Heureka (1.7 billion by 2031), the digital pact for universities (112 million by 2024) as the central components of the strategy the Loewe research funding program.

The path of autonomous university budgets has proven to be the right one, explained the minister. However, there were also problems from the earlier university pacts, which are now being resolved. The focus was previously on an increase in the number of students and third-party funding. At the same time, however, the budget was capped overall. Courses of study have been created out of the ground in order to bring more and more students to the universities. At the same time, the price per student has fallen significantly.

The model has exacerbated inequalities, said the Green politician.

The competition between the Hessian universities has increased and made profile development more difficult.

Now, with reliability and profile building, prospects are given for everyone.

Cooperation is not only welcome, it is also given incentives.

"We have put the competition between the universities on a broader basis," said the Science Minister.

"Because we want a competition for the best ideas."

Jointly responsible for the poor childcare ratio

For the Hessian university strategy, excellence in research is not "the only blissful criterion". The focus is on having the courage to have a diverse profile, emphasized Dorn. This includes not only the top, but also the breadth and, in addition to the scientific focus, also teaching and knowledge transfer to society. Excellence in research is also not rejected and universities are confused with adult education institutions. It is clear that without excellence there would be no scientific innovation and also no good, state-of-the-art teaching.

The SPD MP, Sommer, criticized the fact that the country was jointly responsible for the poor supervisor ratio, the poor performance in the Excellence Initiative, the structural grievances at universities and the precarious employment of academic staff.

The education expert of the Left parliamentary group, Elisabeth Kula, accused Dorn of “twenty minutes of self-praise” in her government statement.

Even after the four percent increase in basic funding, the universities are still not adequately equipped.

There is still only very few scientists who have enough time for their own further qualifications in addition to their teaching duties.

The science policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, Frank Grobe, criticized the fact that natural science courses continue to be neglected.

There should be a significant increase in basic funding with a simultaneous reduction in third-party funding.

The largely state-financed third-party funds would inflate the bureaucracy in the individual institutes.

The university expert of the FDP parliamentary group, Matthias Büger, warned: "The state government wants to optimize small parts, but does not see the big picture." For research, he called for targeted measures to make Hessen a location of excellence and to bring back Nobel Prize winners.

But the minister thinks research is small and too political.

Science should not, however, be seen as a means of achieving political goals.