Good University – Good Studies
All too often, arbitrary rules and regulations prevail in various courses. Where students, according to the university’s claim, should receive an excellent education, they find themselves completely overburdened by teachers who are neither trained nor suitable for their work. Far too often, poor lectures are mistaken for high standards!
We call for:
• Didactic training for all teaching staff and qualified preparation of module content
• Independent evaluation of all courses, university-wide publication of the results
• Continuous further development of teaching with a focus on maximum learning success for students
• Expansion of compulsory elective areas and more flexibility in module selection
• Compulsory attendance and completion of compulsory preliminary examinations only in well-founded cases
Courses that offer students real added value are extremely well attended, just as module-related tasks that actually deepen the learning content are often completed voluntarily. In order to disguise the inadequacies of their own teaching performance, all too many teachers resort to coercive measures against students in order to fill their inadequate courses.
Affordable studies! Work-Money Balance
Studying must be open to everyone, regardless of their budget!
That is why we demand:
• Parent-independent student grants that are enough to live on
• Immediate abolition of the administration fee
• Freezing the amounts of the other items of the semester fee
• No long-term and secondary study fees
• No allocation of the costs of teaching and learning materials to students
Housing is essential! But also that there is money left over to live on after rent!
Therefore, we demand:
• Rapid creation of affordable and livable student dormitories on the Saarbrücken and Homburg campuses
• Construction of barrier-free and family-friendly apartments
• Refurbishment and modernization of the dormitories in Saarbrücken and Homburg, in particular, sufficient internet access
We’re getting things moving!
Mobility plays a major role for students. Whether to university in the morning, to the city in the evening or to the countryside at the weekend, many students do not have an affordable means of transportation.
We demand:
• Continuation of the shuttle between Saarbrücken and Homburg, especially for events
• Improvements to the bus and train connections to the university, especially from rural areas
For the winter semester 24/25, the discounted Deutschlandticket for 29 € has been approved, but the decision for the future has not yet been made.
We are committed to:
• Continuation of the discounted Deutschlandticket as a semester ticket
• Maintaining the solidarity model with the aim of free public transport
Raid the piggy bank! – For a fully funded university
The discussion about potential savings and an unprecedented investment backlog of multiple decades is obvious to every student during their daily campus life.
We demand:
• A broad and well-funded range of courses instead of pure top-level funding
• Renovation of all university buildings
• A master plan from the university management and state government to ensure that Saarland remains an attractive location for research and teaching in the future
Campus can do culture!
A campus university is a concentrated space full of ideas and creativity that holds incredible potential. Cultural events on campus facilitate encounters between students, offer high-quality leisure potential alongside studies and provide development opportunities for science and art. However, campus culture does not develop by itself, but needs people with ideas and institutions that support them. That is why we demand the provision of spaces and resources for cultural groups!
A diverse university
The university must be an open and safe place for everyone, but queer students in particular still face unfair hurdles or are not taken into account.
• Maintain and promote a queer department in the AStA
• Unisex toilets in every university building on the Saarbrücken and Homburg campuses
• Commitment of the university to equality for LGBTQI* people
• Promotion of FINTA* in academia
• Fast and unbureaucratic name changes in all systems
For an international and family-friendly campus
A university thrives on the different personal backgrounds of its students. Discrimination of any kind has no place at the university!
That is why we demand:
• Mentoring program for students with a refugee background
• University support for the Refugee-Law-Clinic Saar e.V. and StudentsWelcomeRefugees projects
• No exams on high religious holidays
We are committed to the international orientation of our university. We will continue to support the international connections of the university in the future and further expansion the international offering.
Specifically, we demand:
• Expansion of the network of partner universities (especially in English-language degree programs) to strengthen international mobility
• A guaranteed place in a dormitory for international students
• Expanded teaching of intercultural skills within the degree program
• Practicing trilingualism in everyday university life
• Expansion of the Language Center’s offerings
Having a family should not be an additional burden during your studies.
We call for support for young families:
• Quiet rooms for pregnant and breastfeeding parents
• Expansion of childcare facilities on campus and child-friendly workspaces
• More security for students in studies and the clinical phases in medicine
• Expansion of networking opportunities for parents
• Expansion of counseling services for students with children
Create more student workspaces!
Self-determined studies include deciding for yourself where and when to study.
So we demand:
• Individual and group workspaces that are always accessible, especially common rooms without compulsory consumption
• Standardized room booking system for all lecture halls and seminar rooms
Make UdS Green Again!
Climate change is one of the most pressing problems of our time. As a place of education, universities have a special role to play here.
We explicitly demand:
• Climate neutrality of the university by 2030.
We propose the following measures to achieve this goal:
• The UdS, the SULB as well as the Studierendenwerk obtain their energy from 100% renewable sources
• Consider energy efficiency in new buildings and renovations
• Expand the range of vegetarian and vegan food in the canteens (min. 50%)
In terms of CO2 savings, transportation plays a key role. This can only be achieved through a genuine turnaround in transportation.
To this end, we demand:
• Sufficient and good bicycle parking spaces on the university campus
• That both university campuses become car-free
• Expansion of electric charging stations in the parking garages on both campuses
• Better public transport connections to the university campuses
• Gradual conversion of the university’s vehicle fleet to electric or hydrogen
• Business trips should be made by train or public transport and not by plane
• CO2 compensation for unavoidable business trips by plane
The university must also incorporate sustainability and ecology into its courses.
We therefore demand:
• Introduction of an interdisciplinary compulsory elective subject that deals with the issues of sustainability and climate change
• Implementation of a paper-saving university bureaucracy
Sensible digital teaching now!
Since the corona pandemic and the associated closures in university operations, many digital tools have found their way into administration and teaching. We demand that these digital achievements are preserved, maintained and expanded!
We demand:
• Varied, multimedia learning opportunities through interactive live lectures, learning videos, podcasts and hybrid events
• Free access to all necessary learning materials as digital resources and the permanent expansion of licenses required for learning outside of the university
• Comprehensive training for all teaching staff in the use of digital teaching tools
Promote student engagement!
Those who are involved in student councils, faculty councils, student associations, etc. usually do so at the expense of their own studies. The time and energy lacks elsewhere, specifically in self-study.
We therefore demand:
• CPs in an amount that is actually appropriate to the workload of committed students
• Financial compensation for committee work
• Providing all student councils and groups with their own rooms and the necessary equipment
Democratization of the university
The fact that professors generally have the absolute majority of votes in university committees is patronizing and outdated. Participation in academic and student self-administration must be attractive for students.
That is why we demand:
• Introduction of a one-third parity in all academic self-administration bodies
• Shortening the terms of office of academic self-government bodies to 2 years
• Financial compensation for student representatives on university committees
• Transparency in the appointment of student members to such committees
Give student assistants a voice!
The work area of student assistants at the university is the only area without its own employee representation. Fair work is one of the most important areas of our political work.
We demand:
• Representation of student assistants by the staff council for academic staff with active and passive voting rights in staff council elections
• Negotiations on a uniform collective agreement for student employees
• No longer only fixed-term contracts for student employees in the administrative area
• Minimum wage of at least 15 euros for student assistants
Against precarious working conditions in academic mid-level staff
The academic sector is considered one of the most precarious areas of the working world due to the active practice of fixed-term contracts and inadequate career opportunities. We are campaigning for an amendment to the Academic Fixed-Term Contract Act at federal level. We also see further potential for action at Saarland and university level.
We demand:
• Commitment by the university to a minimum fixed-term contract of 2 years for research positions funded from main funds
• Commitment on the part of the university to making teaching positions permanent
• Expansion of junior professorships and an improvement in the economic situation of private lecturers