Financing agreement signed until 2030

The new Higher Education Funding Agreement (HoFV III) was signed in Stuttgart on April 2. With a term of five years until 2030, it regulates the financial resources of universities and colleges in Baden-Württemberg. The agreement bears a total of 53 signatures, including the names of Minister President Winfried Kretschmann, Science Minister Petra Olschowski, Finance Minister Dr. Danyal Bayaz and the rectors.

"This agreement gives us reliability and planning security for the coming years. Especially in times of crisis and difficult budgetary conditions, this is a clear commitment by state politicians to Baden-Württemberg as a science location. We are grateful for this," says the Rector of RWU, Professor Dr. Thomas Spägele. "However, this commitment is also linked to a mandate," continued Spägele, "namely the mandate to be ready for transformation. We will have to take a very close look at where we want to be in 2031."

"The spirit of curiosity, courage and forward thinking cannot be valuable enough for us, especially in these times"

"With the new HoFV III, we are strengthening the universities in the state-wide, national and international competition for teaching, research and transfer," said Science Minister Petra Olschowski at the press conference for the signing. And Minister President Winfried Kretschmann: "We are not saving a single cent at our universities. On the contrary, we are talking about a total of around 23 billion euros that the state will spend on basic funding for universities from next year until 2030. Because the spirit of curiosity, courage and forward thinking cannot be valuable enough for us, especially in these times."

"University of the Future Program 2030"

Key points of the funding agreement include, for example, an increase in basic funding of 3.5 percent per year from 2027 onwards, the assumption of personnel costs including future wage settlements and, in view of the continued high demand for academically qualified specialists, the maintenance of overall student numbers.

In addition, there is the "University of the Future 2030" program worth around 180 million euros. Among other things, this consists of a transformation budget and transformation positions. The transformation budget is intended to improve the courses on offer at all types of university and make them more attractive. According to Science Minister Petra Olschowski, "With the transformation positions, we are enabling universities to bring forward professorships in order to advance new focal points in teaching and research more quickly and further develop their course portfolios."