According to Geraldine Rauch, the former president of the Technical University (TU) in Berlin, the current state of the city’s universities is “disastrous”. In an op-ed piece for the “Berliner Morgenpost”, she details severe physical inadequacies, noting that lecture halls leak from the ceiling, and that entrances, laboratories, and lecture rooms are haphazardly blocked off with caution tape and standing buckets. Furthermore, entire buildings have reportedly been shut down.
Rauch highlighted significant financial instability alongside the structural issues. She pointed out the simultaneous increases in student contributions and the looming possibility that up to 14 percent of all student places could be eliminated in the coming years due to cost constraints. She warned that higher education institutions will soon be unable to bear their operating costs alone, comparing the situation to a state of insolvency in the free market.
Currently leading the Institute for Biometry and Clinical Epidemiology at Charité Berlin, Professor Rauch made several demands regarding the 200,000 students attending institutions in Berlin. She called for “genuine co-determination” in university policy decisions, emphasizing that reliable funding is urgently needed. Crucially, she also stressed the necessity of a robust housing policy to ensure students are not left vulnerable.
Addressing the upcoming election on September 20, she criticized the political parties for failing to adequately address the student demographic. “Students appear in programs, but rarely as a concrete political priority” she stated, adding that while they are discussed, they are rarely featured “with” the students themselves.