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At home with gloves and a hat (symbolic image): »That worries us a lot, since students are already under financial pressure.«
Photo: Thomas Trutschel / photothek / IMAGO
At the Koblenz University of Applied Sciences, what the University Rectors' Conference and the Ministers of Education actually wanted to avoid is happening: "In order to achieve the 15 percent energy savings expected by public institutions, we will be holding the lectures purely online between December 4, 2022 and January 8, 2023 -Offer lectures," says the university's website.
Universities would implement the savings at the expense of the students, criticizes Carlotta Eklöh from the board of the Free Association of Student Unions (fzs).
After all, they would have to heat more when teaching online at home.
"That worries us a lot, since students are already under financial pressure," Eklöh told SPIEGEL.
Universities in other cities have also decided to limit face-to-face operations.
The University of Erfurt will close the library on weekends until around the end of 2022 and wants to hold teaching digitally around the turn of the year, reports WDR.
Elsewhere, online events are planned at least on a daily basis.
Eklöh demands that universities also have to make rooms available for digital events so that those who cannot afford to heat their homes have a warm place to study.
It is also problematic if rooms for student initiatives are lost due to building closures.
The Koblenz University of Applied Sciences has a few rooms for such cases, as can be read on the website.
There should also be a basic range of inexpensive meals on campus.
Everyone had to do their part because of the war
"We don't like that either," says the university's spokeswoman about the temporary restrictions.
The country's specifications of saving 15 percent of energy could not have been achieved otherwise.
That's why she doesn't blame politicians, according to press spokeswoman Christiane Gandner: Because of the war, everyone has to do their part to save energy.
However, the requirements are contradictory.
After all, the Ministers of Education had repeatedly spoken out in favor of regular academic activities: "In the universities, face-to-face teaching is our top priority," said Karin Prien, the chairwoman of the Conference of Ministers of Education, in October.
The institutions would also receive financial support from the federal states to cope with increased energy costs.
At the same time, however, there is a requirement to save a certain percentage of energy.
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