Universities, put an end to the rumbling and finally plans a presence semester in winter – that’s what our columnist Jan-Martin Wiarda demanded on Monday. Here, Peter-André Alt, the President of the University Rectors’ Conference, answers him.
No, the German universities are not discouraged when it comes to planning the coming semester. For weeks the prerequisites for a winter semester in attendance have been created everywhere. Those who act responsibly, however, have to be honest about the current limits of what is possible.
The condition for courses to be offered on campus is that access to events with smaller group sizes – exercises, internships, seminars – is only granted to those who have been vaccinated, tested or recovered.
The organization here would be easiest if all students could prove a vaccination. The known uncertainties apply to the test, especially the dangers of an infection that cannot yet be documented. In any case, the admission requirements must be checked when registering and, if necessary, confirmed on a random basis in later weeks.
In the current legal situation, the distance requirement applies to lectures, which means that larger events would have to take place virtually in view of the lack of space. This is where politicians are called upon to allow exceptions to the distance regulation, provided that the participants are vaccinated. This is currently being negotiated with universities in a number of federal states.
Support is also required in another problem area. Students who are not vaccinated and who cannot provide evidence of a daily test cannot, in principle, claim that they are allowed to attend the relevant event virtually. It would not be technically possible for universities to offer every seminar and exercise at the same time in a present and virtual – i.e. hybrid – form.
An ordinance from the state ministries is required here, which clearly regulates that students who do not meet the entry requirements have no legal right to participate in the event or to an alternative offer.
It is clear that all those involved will have their own specific share in the success of a winter semester with as large a presence as possible. The universities have to organize the teaching on their premises well. This also includes the provision of test capacities, which are to be secured by the federal states.
The students should take advantage of the vaccination offer, which is accessible everywhere. The universities have often created the best opportunities for this on their campuses or in connection with local vaccination centers. All students should be aware that, unless health impairments speak against it, they should be vaccinated so that classroom operations can start up again. Not to be forgotten are those international guest students who have not yet received a vaccination in their home countries. Sufficient offers are also available for them.
In order for a largely normal semester to really start in September or October, the students have to return to the university locations. You should do this in any case, even if individual events will still take place virtually in the winter semester.
It is clear that the incidences will rise again by autumn. But the universities are not the schools, because a large majority of their members can be vaccinated and in this way reliably protect against the fourth wave. A year ago we would not have known that this opportunity would be available so quickly.
So let’s take advantage of the opportunity that this gives us together. Academic autonomy, which individuals and institutions alike claim for themselves, also means that we not only demand freedoms, but also deal with them responsibly. Neither concern about the situation and prevention mentality nor activism and forward appeals help here.
When universities are opened up, as is the way society as a whole deals with the second autumn of the pandemic, it is essential that we find solutions together that are based on the perception of individual responsibility for the bigger picture.
