Support for Internationals?  [06.04.20]

The coronavirus crisis is also causing difficulties and worries for the international students at the University of Hohenheim. In particular, the tuition fees for non-EU citizens amounting to €1,500 per semester are currently a problem for many. Prof. Dr. Andreas Pyka, Vice President for Internationalization, reports in an interview with the Online Courier on what the University is doing to support the internationals and what the coronavirus crisis means for stays abroad, international partnerships, etc.

 

More on the topic: Coronavirus: The University of Hohenheim informs

 

Mr. Pyka, via an online petition, international students are currently demanding that the tuition fees be suspended for the current summer semester. In an open letter they are also asking the university management for support. Do you agree with the request?

Yes, because the concerns that the international students are telling us about are very understandable. Those who lose their part-time job because of the COVID crisis may be in trouble. Due to the global dimension of the economic downturn, financial support from their family may no longer be possible in the usual form.

At the same time, it is not yet certain whether we will be able to offer the full range of teaching in the summer semester - even though we are currently doing everything we can to develop alternative, mainly online formats.

However, the tuition fees are a statewide legal regulation that we as a university cannot simply override.

 

So does the University support the online petition?

I know that many University members do so as private individuals. But as a university, we are an institution of the state itself, so we are taking a different path.

There are a lot of problems arising in connection with the COVID crisis at the moment. That is why all state universities have joined together in a task force that meets weekly with representatives of the Ministry of Science and the Arts and works with politicians on joint solutions that are then standardized for all of Baden-Württemberg. We have taken the demands of the international students on board and are currently incorporating them into the ongoing negotiations.

 

Could the University not refund at least the part of the fees that goes into its own budget?

Of the €1,500, only about €300 remains directly at the University, the rest goes to the state. The relief for the students would therefore be comparatively small. In addition to the legal difficulties of repayment, the coordination effort for the University would be very large. Especially in the current situation, we would like to avoid this if possible. A general solution at the political level would therefore be the much better option. This is what we are now focusing on for the time being.

Independently of this, we are trying to support the international students at the University in other ways as best we can.

 

 

What are some examples?

As the Vice President I write letters of recommendation to support students in their job search. Perhaps some of them will also have opportunities as harvest workers in agriculture, because seasonal workers are currently very urgently needed here. Hohenheim students have participated in the Federal Government's Hackaton, for example, and are trying to find people willing to help in agricultural businesses with an app. We would also like to use such initiatives to help.

There is also some DAAD funding to support international students in financial need so that they can continue their studies. We have accelerated the allocation of all funding for the summer semester and will now bring forward the next round of funding, which would normally not take place until September.

In addition, we have completely paid the costs incurred by the University for the discontinued intensive German as a foreign language course in order to relieve the students. At the same time, we are ensuring that they can continue to learn German via alternative online offers from the Language Center.

The Office of International Affairs has been working at full capacity for weeks to keep the international students informed about current developments and to answer their questions. This week the central COVID information portal of the University has now also been expanded with special FAQs for international students and outgoings.

 

In addition to the international students who study here full-time, there are also a large number of temporary students who come to Hohenheim for one or two semesters as part of exchange programs. To what extent are they affected by the COVID crisis?

Fortunately, far fewer new students come to Hohenheim in the summer semester than in the winter semester: 58 new students are acutely affected.

The Office of International Affairs has been in intensive contact with these students for weeks. Most of them have not even come to Germany because of the crisis. The few who arrived earlier actually wanted to take the intensive language course before the start of the semester. After the attendance format was suspended, most of them left again. Some of the arrivals are still here, however. And we want to do our utmost to be a good host despite the adverse circumstances.

One question that is still open at the moment is how to deal with rent for residence halls if students have left prematurely or have not come at all. The Studierendenwerk had made a binding reservation for these rooms. Of course, the students do not want to be stuck with the costs. For the Studierendenwerk, the total sum involved is considerable. Here too, we are trying to mediate on the part of the University in order to minimize the damage as far as possible: In the ongoing negotiations with the Ministry, we are working towards financial support from the state.

 

What does the pandemic mean for Hohenheim students or scientists who are abroad or are planning a stay abroad?

The Federal Foreign Office has issued a worldwide travel warning. Planned stays should unfortunately be cancelled or postponed until further notice. We advise all those who are abroad to return as quickly as possible.

On the student side, 72 outgoings are affected who are spending or wanted to spend the entire academic year or just the summer semester abroad. For Erasmus+ students and other scholarship holders, the costs for the return journey and any cancellation fees can be financed up to a certain level from the scholarship. For outgoings at overseas partner universities and in the state programs, the University can help out to a certain extent.

Scientists whose stay abroad is financed by third-party funds should coordinate this with the respective funding agency before their return journey.

For all those who are abroad without a scholarship or grant, we would like to set up an emergency fund on the part of the University in order to be able to bear at least part of the costs incurred. To this end, we have contacted the University's sponsors and benefactors. We have already received two agreements: The Helmut Aurenz Fellowship and the Herzog-Carl-Scholarship can be rededicated for the fund.

 

Does the crisis pose a threat to the international partnerships of the University of Hohenheim?

As far as the direct contact with our partner universities is concerned, there is no question of that at the moment - on the contrary: the flow of information is still excellent and we feel that everyone is moving closer together virtually during the crisis. Since Germany is one of the worst-hit regions, we have received numerous expressions of solidarity. For example, the President of the China Agricultural University (CAU) in Beijing has written a personal letter to our President in which he offers us support.

With a view to the future, however, I am very worried that the crisis could promote national egoism and that funds for international cooperation may be cut. That would be fatal in many ways. After all, we can only develop and promote answers for other major crises of our time, such as climate change, by working together. With our focus on bioeconomy, we at the University of Hohenheim are therefore very much committed to international cooperation, now and in the future.

 

Thank you very much for the interview. We will report.

 

Interview: Leonhardmair / Translation: Neudorfer