Science, research and education point the way forward in tackling social problems and issues. In view of the increasing social, political and international conflicts, the demands on education and science to contribute substantially to their civil and sustainable solution through sound knowledge and its dissemination are also growing. The current crisis shows  this all the more clearly. On the other hand, universities have been underfunded for years and their scientific work is hampered by precarious employment and study conditions, a lack of planning security and (usable) space.

The HAW has been underfunded for years, just like other Hamburg colleges and universities. In good-sounding speeches, the Senate emphasizes the value of science for Hamburg as a center of innovation, but at the same time denies the colleges and universities the necessary funds they need to be able to plan and sustain science and teaching. In recent years, the funds available in the basic budget have not been adjusted to the rising costs.

Since 2013, funding has increased by only 0.88% annually, while many costs, such as employee pay scales, have increased by as much as 3.2% annually.  

The resulting cost gap has been offset in recent years by reserves of the HAW. The Higher Education Pact (HSP) expired at the end of 2020, and starting in 2021, HAW should receive sufficient funds from new contracts from the Authority for Science, Research, Equal Opportunity and Districts (BWFGB), this commitment is now being withdrawn and the new funds are significantly too low. For the HAW, this means that over 8 million euros will be missing until 2022 and that the reserves have been largely depleted by the deficits of recent years.  At the same time, HAW has received a request from the BWFGB to submit a balanced budget for 2021/22. In order to comply with this request, funds that have already been allocated must be eliminated from the budget. The problem is thus only further postponed and entails massive restriction in teaching, research, administration and further development. The newly adopted contracts for the future, which are to replace the Higher Education Pact, are also set too low. Here costs are expected to increase by only 1.5-2%, but it is clear that, as in previous years, annual increases will be up to 3.2% or more.

Another example of underfunding becomes clear when we look at the funding provided by the Zukunftsvertrag “Studium und Lehre stärken” (Future Contract "Strengthening Study and Teaching"). Here the same number of professorships, which was financed with 21 million euros in 2016, is now financed with only 20 million, even though the salaries of the positions have risen by about 30% since then. 

Despite growing tasks such as quality assurance, accreditation of new degree programs and the expansion of IT service structures (Emil, myHAW, etc.), the necessary creation of additional positions is not taken into account. In addition, costs are rising due to new requirements (data protection, transparency law) for the HAW. 

Currently, the Nursing (cooperative degree programme) is particularly affected by the underfunding. Despite previous promises of the Hamburg parliament, the demand-covering financing of this study program is missing. The lack of funding is justified with saying that the course is still partly in the planning phase, and the costs cannot be based on real figures. A funding gap of 30% remains. From 2023 onwards, this gap will increase enormously. The continued existence of this degree program is therefore uncertain. Biomedical engineering, rescue engineering and health sciences are also affected. Cutting funding for courses of study, in which people learn, teach and research to cope with the current pandemic, cannot be justified in any form. The fact that promises made by the Hamburg parliament to ensure funding for new courses of study are not kept, consequently hinders the establishment of further courses of study. In this way, the academization of future professions in the nursing and health care sector, which HAW is striving to achieve, is being severely hindered. Since the funds needed for development and elaboration of new concepts, are apparently limited to a term of two years, makes long-term planning impossible and reduces the motivation for the people working in these fields.

Professorships will also have to be cut in other places. The deficit here is 2,672,000 euros. The result is that one professor supervises more students at once, which significantly lowers the quality of teaching, especially at a university of applied sciences that is characterized by smaller seminar/course groups. Particularly affected are the study programs Education and Childhood Education (BABE), as well as Biomedical Engineering with Rescue Engineering. In these study programs, almost all professorships were previously financed via HSP funds. Other degree programs that are facing funding problems include mechatronics, automotive engineering, computer science, social work and health sciences. For these areas, this already means a staffing freeze of six months, and vacant positions may only be filled after this time has elapsed. This results in an enormous additional workload for the remaining professors, in some cases a loss of teaching opportunities, as well as a far-reaching loss of knowledge in many areas, because no handover can take place due to the delay in filling vacancies. 

 

In addition, the infrastructure of the HAW suffers from the cuts. The HAW has annually approx. 2.500.000€ rental costs. These have been financed from reserves since 2013, the BWFGB promised to take over these as soon as the urgent need is there. Now there is a shortfall for the building rent of Alexanderstraße, for the next two years of around 3,676,000 euros. A need was announced some time ago by the HAW, this is 'recognized' by the Hamburg parliament, but ignored.  

All this taken together can only mean that the quality of teaching will further decline, material is not available in the laboratories, the IT departments of the HAW continue to suffer from breakdowns and poor service, services such as faculty service offices and the student secretariat are overburdened, and the university as a whole is unable to fulfill its academic and scientific tasks in the sense of social development. How can this be, when Hamburg is supposed to be "the beacon of science in the north"?  

In order for science, research and teaching to be able to meet their own demands and social necessities, we demand from BWFGB, the Senate and the Hamburg parliament:

The financing of all universities in Hamburg!
We demand the compensation of the deficits (of at least 8 million euros) from the past years and a basic funding in line with demand - now and in the future!
In order to be able to plan in the long term and sustainably, temporary positions must be reduced and made permanent, taking into account wage increases and inflation.
Additional tasks must be taken into account when planning the costs of additional positions.
The maintenance, renovation and new construction of university premises must be guaranteed.