German Students Protest Fund Cuts

Students streamed to Bonn by the tens of thousands Thursday to protest years of declining spending on Germany’s crowded universities.

Apart from more money for universities, where overflowing classrooms and outdated textbooks have become common, the students demanded that politicians uphold Germany’s cherished tradition of tuition-free higher education.

After weeks of local protests, about 40,000 students from 25 universities took their complaints to Germany’s seat of government, marching through the city to a rally in front of the 18th century Bonn University.

Protesters carried banners blasting Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s government, in power since 1982, for cuts in education budgets.

“I guess it’s because politicians figure it’s a way of least resistance,” said 21-year-old Andre Lang, a business student from Cologne.

Police said the demonstration went off peacefully. The recent protests have been mainly about money, contrasting with the angry student protests for social change in the 1960s and 1970s.

The demonstrators were especially irked that Parliament on Wednesday approved a $13.1-billion program for Germany to buy 180 new combat jets.

In contrast, government loans and grants to students are down one-third since 1992, leaving many without enough money for living expenses.

Students complain of jammed university lecture halls, outdated equipment and textbooks, and professors often more interested in research than teaching.

Some courses are so overbooked that enrollment is done by lottery.

About 1.8 million students are filling universities designed to take only about half as many. And budgets are strapped in Germany’s 16 states, which own the universities and pay 90% of the costs.

The federal government’s 10% share is being cut as part of efforts to meet strict fiscal targets so Germany can qualify for the common European currency due to debut in 1999.

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Spending on universities as a share of Germany’s gross domestic product has been falling for years, and Kohl’s government recently voiced concern that Germany’s once world-renowned university system is falling behind.

But a proposal before Parliament to boost standards by increasing competition among universities and students actually helped trigger the recent protests.

Organizers of Thursday’s rally said that would lead to tuition fees and a “two-class system” of a few elite universities and many second-rate schools.

Nearly a third of German students pursue a higher education, and they do not rush to graduate: The average student takes about seven years, and many Germans remain students into their 30s.

They can apply for state grants and loans for living expenses for their first 4 1/2 years of study, but conditions to qualify have been getting tougher.

About two-thirds of students work part time.