The current President of the German Rectors' Conference (HRK), Peter-André Alt, will resign early on March 31, 2023.

On April 1 of next year, Alt will take over as CEO of the establishment of a new science foundation in Berlin.

With an annual funding volume of up to 25 million euros and a program strongly geared towards cutting-edge research, career paths and internationality, it aims to become a key player in science funding.

Heike Schmoll

Political correspondent in Berlin, responsible for “Bildungswelten”.

  • Follow I follow

"The decision to give up my position as President of the German Rectors' Conference before the end of my second and final term of office was not easy for me," said Alt on Thursday in Berlin after a closed session of the HRK.

Alt was confirmed by the HRK for a second term in April last year.

The HRK Universities Member Group has passed proposals to amend the Academic Term Contract Act and has called for amendments.

However, the rectors and presidents are aware "that a change in the law alone will not be enough to ensure attractive employment conditions in a comprehensive sense," said the Vice President of the HRK and spokeswoman for the universities, the President of Düsseldorf University, Anja Steinbeck.

Further steps are needed by the universities themselves, politicians or third-party donors.

The universities agree that the uncertainty associated with a late career decision for young scientists and the traditionally strong focus on a professorship are problematic.

Uniform qualification period

The universities have therefore proposed a uniform qualification period of ten years with a family policy component.

A maximum of six years may be allocated for the doctorate so that there is sufficient time for the postdoc phase.

The initial contract for doctoral students "should be concluded for a minimum period (if possible at least 3 years)," the paper says.

After that, at the latest, “plannable career paths follow either to a junior professorship (with tenure), a permanent position alongside the professorship or – which is by far the most common case – outside of academia”.

However, this qualification period should be individually flexible and designed according to different specialist cultures.

The deferred decision as to whether long-term employment in science - in a professorship or another permanent position in research, teaching or science management - is realistic should offer scientists in the qualification phase and universities planning security earlier than before and ensure intergenerational equity.

In the opinion of the universities, there should not be a mandatory permanent tenure for all temporary postdocs.

The obligation to make a follow-up commitment would "considerably reduce" the number of corresponding positions and thus deprive many scientists in the early postdoc phase of the chance of a career in science, the rectors and presidents fear.

On the fringes of the closed conference, the exploding heating costs for university and institute buildings were also discussed, for which there will be no further federal funds.

In addition, the universities are feeling the consequences of the savings made by the intermediary organizations: The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) and the Goethe Institute have to make drastic savings.

On the one hand, this is due to the budget for 2023, which the cabinet decided last week, but on the other hand, to global underspending, which will already affect 2022.

As the DAAD confirmed to the FAZ, new scholarship applications are particularly affected by the savings.

DAAD President Joybrato Mukherjee expressed his regret that institutional funding by the Federal Foreign Office was being cut so drastically.

"We continue to advocate that foreign science policy be strengthened in the way that is envisaged in the coalition agreement with good reason, i.e. by strengthening the AvH and the DAAD with an annual institutional budget increase of three percent."

According to the budget for 2023, the DAAD has to hand over 4.4 million euros from its basic budget.

This is 13 million fewer than in 2021.

The AvH has to reckon with a decrease in the basic budget by 10.9 percent and the Goethe-Institut with a minus of 11.5 percent compared to 2021. The leeway in the Federal Ministry of Education is also becoming smaller.