Tuition fees in Baden-Württemberg: Socially untenable! [03.05.17]
Landtag passes bill on tuition fees for non-EU international students / critics push for ordinances with more exceptions for students from the poorest developing countries
More than two-thirds of students from non-EU countries affected by the law at universities in Baden-Württemberg come from developing countries. That is why before the law was passed, leading development experts criticized it as being untenable with social principles and incompatible with global goals for sustainable development. Even after the public call by development experts as well as extensive protests by University employees, students, unions, churches, and civil society associations, the Baden-Württemberg Landtag passed the law without including any more exceptions. The criticism from development experts is that only a fraction of students from developing countries are included in the exemptions from the fees, which are 1500 euros per semester. Experts for development cooperation are now calling for the necessary exceptions for students from developing countries to be made possible with ordinances.
“We are very disappointed with the law that was passed today,” declared Claudia Duppel, Managing Director of the Dachverband Entwicklungspolitik Baden-Württemberg e.V. (DEAB) and co-initiator of the declaration for “No Tuition Fees for Students from Developing Countries.” In the declaration, we clearly pointed out that the introduction of tuition fees for non-EU students is an especially problematic signal in a time in which an increasing number of states are pushing forward with isolationist policies aiming at exclusion.
Even though the law has already been passed, it is still possible to make exceptions for more social sustainability and to promote more development, according to Prof. Dr. Regina Birner from the University of Hohenheim, who assisted in organizing the declaration from development experts.
After all: According to the draft legislation, the Ministry of Science has the possibility to order reduced or waived fees by passing an ordinance. “This needs to be done as soon as possible to exempt more students from developing countries.”
Meaningful development cooperation needs more exceptions
Before today’s plenary session, the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts (MWK) had referred to the already existing exceptions: Those exempted from paying the 1500 euros per semester include those who obtained their previous education in Germany and refugees who have good prospects of having their asylum application approved. In the explanation of the draft legislation, the Ministry also announced that it would use an ordinance to create an exception for students in graduate degree programs with a special relation to development policies, but only for students in these degree programs who have a scholarship or come from especially poor countries.
In addition, the universities could exempt particularly talented international students in whole or part from the fees. These exemptions are not allowed to total more than five percent of the new international students, however.
“This means that the exceptions are only helpful to a very small percentage of students from developing countries,” criticized Prof. Dr. Birner. The results of the social survey by the German National Association for Student Affairs (Studentenwerk) showed that two-thirds of the students from low-income countries have to earn money by working in addition to their studies so that they can afford the costs of living in Germany. Earning an additional 1500 euros per semester is not likely to be possible.
Experts criticize: Tuition fees hinder development cooperation
By educating international students at its universities, the state of Baden-Württemberg contributes to development in the poorest countries - a goal which the state government set itself in its coalition agreement. In recent weeks, the new law to introduce tuition fees for non-EU international students therefore met with strong criticism by experts for development cooperation.
In the middle of April over 50 experts from the area of development cooperation had already spoken out against the tuition fees in a declaration. The points they criticized: The tuition fees for students from developing countries harmed development cooperation, contradicted the goals of sustainable development set by the United Nations, and were not tenable from a social perspective.
In addition, particularly development-oriented international degree programs were affected by the tuition fees and would now lose their students. Students from developing countries often choose environmentally-focused degree programs that enable them to better solve problems in their home countries, stated Prof. Dr. Birner. Examples for this are international degree programs on topics such as renewable energy, sustainable urban development, ecological agriculture, and bioeconomy, which were established at the universities in Baden-Württemberg with the goal of internationalization and promotion of sustainable global development.
After studying in Germany, the graduates take on jobs as experts and managers in their home countries and hold key positions in business, science, and administration. They also support economic and cultural cooperation with Germany, which represents a great advantage for an export-oriented country such as Germany. “If no other exceptions for tuition exemptions come,” said Prof. Dr. Birner, “then the possibilities for universities to become more international and contribute to sustainable development will be massively limited by the law passed today.”
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Text: Barsch / Klebs
Contact for press:
Prof. Dr. Regina Birner,University of Hohenheim, Director of the Department of Social and Institutional Change in Agricultural Development
T 0711 459 23517, E Regina.Birner@uni-hohenheim.de
Claudia Duppel, Dachverband Entwicklungspolitik Baden-Württemberg e.V. (DEAB), Managing Director
T 0711 66487360, E claudia.duppel@deab.de
