The highlight of today’s meeting of the Academic Senat (AS) of the University of Bremen was the visit of Prof. Eva Quante-Brandt, the Senator for Education and Research. Among the main topics discussed were: The report prepared by the German Science Council and the pending job cuts, and thus a debate about the University’s institutional funding.

According to Quante-Brandt: “The expert opinion of the Science Council affirms that Bremen has a strong and research intensive university which is particularly deserving of support. Notwithstanding, the Science Council also points out that there is a need to strengthen the humanities and to focus on priorities.” The report clearly blames underfunding as the cause of many of the University’s apparent weaknesses. Commenting on the report, the Rector of the University, Prof. Scholl-Reiter, stressed there must be a significant increase of state funding. This is the indispensible prerequisite for long-term planning. A targeted and honest SWOT analysis based on the Science Council’s report now needs to be carried out. Senator Quante-Brandt spoke out strongly in favor of maintaining student numbers at their present level up to 2018 at least.

The discussion surrounding pending job cuts triggered a peaceful student protest. Quante-Brandt explained that there wasn’t enough money available to finance all the positions foreseen by the University Development Plan V (HEP V).
Scholz-Reiter criticized the University’s chronic underfunding: “A comparison with other federal states shows that we are clearly disadvantaged in Bremen. In the absence of secure state funding it is simply not possible to improve the quality of university teaching and carry out the necessary repairs to buildings.” Scholz-Reiter praised the behavior of students and employees of the University during the protest week. “It is imperative that politics hears opinions from different sides. Creative protest on the part of all concerned, in the way it was voiced last week, is often the most effective form.”