For a long time it was puzzled whether Minister of Science Armin Willingmann (SPD) would accept the invitation to the digital senate meeting of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg last Wednesday.
He did it.
Switched on from the ministry in Magdeburg, Willingmann faced the public discussion.
It was high time, because the largest and oldest university in Saxony-Anhalt is up to its neck in water.
There is a deficit in the millions in the university budget.
The Commission for Structure and Budget warns in a statement that "the faculties will no longer be able to fulfill their duties this year." At the beginning of April, the Senate is to decide on far-reaching cuts to ensure the university's ability to act.
The Rectorate had already presented a concept for this last May,
Against this background, the minister welcomed in the Senate meeting that the Rectorate had finally initiated a necessary structural discussion.
The structures would have to be adapted to the budget, as already provided for in the university structure planning of the state of Saxony-Anhalt from 2014.
According to this, the University of Halle should have saved 10.5 million euros since then.
While the other universities in the state had made corresponding decisions in the past, this did not happen in Halle.
According to Willingmann, the government therefore expects the university to catch up on the process that was once agreed.
The minister and the university management largely agree on this.
"Structural adjustments are unavoidable," said Rector Christian Tietje, "unfortunately that's only possible, and that's the bitter truth,
However, the minister left no doubt that there was disagreement about the assessment of the financial situation and the necessary measures.
Further talks with the Rectorate have already been agreed to clarify this.
"That's why we don't want to and can't talk about numbers at the moment," says Willingmann.
Nevertheless, it became clear that the ministry apparently does not consider a job reduction of the planned amount to be necessary.
A drastic reduction in the number of students is also not expected.
The ministry also does not consider it expedient to implement personnel structure measures as currently planned before there has been an agreement on the future content-related sharpening of the profile.
Willingmann suggested an upstream external quality analysis to define development goals for the university and offered financial support from his house.
At the moment, he sees no scope for a fundamental increase in the university budget.
This position was not entirely new.
She still leaves the rector stunned.
“It is disputed that we have financing problems.
We don't understand that," says Tietje.
Although there has actually been a real increase in funds from the state in recent years through the assumption of tariff increases, this has been more than compensated for, among other things, by increased energy and rental costs and the procurement of literature.