Next semester starts as planned, but scholarships and contracts are to be extended
Germany’s summer semester, which starts on 14 April, will take place—but with some exceptions for students and researchers to take account of the coronavirus pandemic, the government has announced.
The decision, made by the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK), is in response to demands from more than 10,000 academics, who signed a petition calling for a “non-semester”. The academies said they were concerned about asking students and staff to perform to their usual standard during a time when campuses have been cleared and researchers asked to work from home to stem the spread of Covid-19.
The ministers said the summer term should take place with teaching to commence as planned but that it should not be counted as a “standard period” of study and should not be deducted from students’ scholarships. Exams are also to be relaxed, they said, but some form of testing and teaching should take place as far as possible.
However, students should not be put at a disadvantage by the fact that many services cannot be provided due to the corona pandemic, the KMK said. The decision is supposed to create the necessary framework conditions for the universities to ensure that teaching and research operations run as smoothly as possible.
Lectures at universities and universities of applied sciences have been pushed back, and are now to begin on 1 November in the coming winter semester. The higher education application process has also been delays, with application portals at the Foundation for University Admissions to open on 1 July at the earliest, the KMK said.
The conference urged the federal states to allow as much flexibility as possible in the design of the semester, but also offer reliability and planning security while avoiding disadvantages for students. In Germany, higher education policy is decided at state level.
Students who are unable to provide any or all of the planned services due to the consequences of the Covid 19 pandemic and the resulting limited range of courses should not suffer any disadvantages, such as losing scholarships or placements due to expanded study time. The federal states said they would lobby the government to ensure that flexible solutions are found for student grants, child benefit or health insurance, which are often limited to a certain number of years of study.
In the wake of the decision, the German Network for Good Work in Science asked for similar measures aimed at academic staff working under temporary contracts. “Operations at universities, colleges and research institutions cannot simply continue as before in the summer semester 2020,” the network warned.
Students, teachers, and researchers—as well as technical and administrative staff—are affected by lockdown measures extended across Germany and cannot be expected to perform as usual, it said. “The crisis-like nature of the current situation is intensified under the conditions of temporary employment, which is still the norm in the German higher education system.”
The network asked that all fixed-term employment contracts of student employees and post-doctoral scientists be extended for the duration of the lockdown, even beyond maximum fixed-term contract periods and state laws on part-time and fixed-term contracts.
“We also expect the full recognition of crisis-related additional care work, such as homeschooling, as working time”, the statement said.
Due to the resulting increase in working hours, the fees for lecturers must a be raised significantly, the network said.
A version of this article also appeared in Research Europe