Greifswald/Schwerin (dpa/mv) – With a visit to Schwerin, Greifswald students want to emphasize their criticism of planned cuts in university finances. The General Student Committee (AStA) of the University of Greifswald announced on Wednesday that they want to hand over the corresponding demands to Finance Minister Heiko Geue (SPD) on Thursday. “In times of crisis, we don’t need cuts in the training of young people in M-V, but investments in our future!” demanded AStA chairman Lukas Voigt.
Science Minister Bettina Martin (SPD) made it clear last week that, given the generally tense financial situation, the universities should also make a contribution to savings. Your department must reduce its spending by a total of 18.3 million euros in 2023. Reserves of the universities should be reduced. According to Martin, these have now grown to 136 million euros.
According to the AStA, the austerity plans would inevitably lead to vacancies and cuts in material resources. “The range of courses is reduced and the quality of study and teaching suffers,” emphasized Voigt. “Of course we are aware that the underspending was not designed in the Ministry of Science, but in the Ministry of Finance.”
In addition to the cancellation of the cutback plans, the students are also demanding better financial resources for the student unions in the state, which, like other institutions, are also struggling with increased costs for energy, for example.
The opposition CDU in the state parliament criticized last week that the five million euros in special aid provided by the state government in the hardship fund for the universities were not sufficient to deal with the energy crisis.
