Preserving promising prospects and opportunities in research and teaching is a particular challenge in the face of multiple crises (war in Ukraine, high inflation, climate and energy crises). We are committed to this and consider it important and urgent that all disciplines can develop equally in teaching and research in line with their performance. Great transparency, tolerance and respectful interaction at all levels are decisive prerequisites and mission statements for this development process, which we want to contribute through our cooperation and constructively support the university in overcoming these crises.

In the "University Autonomy" group, colleagues from the professors' group and the mid-level group work together across status groups. We come from all of our university's Schools and share common fundamental convictions. In this way, we integrate different perspectives, interests and experiences in collegial discourse and develop and pursue common goals.

Our programme for the 2025 University Senate elections

The successes in the Excellence Initiative, "zukunft.niedersachsen" and the intensification of the Northwest Axis through co-operation with Bremen have resulted in very promising prospects and opportunities for our university in research and teaching, which must be exploited. However, this development process is also accompanied by major challenges, such as the lack of networking between cultural sciences and humanities on the one hand and natural sciences on the other, the still unresolved issue of space, increasing bureaucracy, the lack of dynamism in digitalisation and unattractive positions at all levels. Decisive prerequisites for making the development process a success nonetheless are great transparency and constructive tolerance, which we demand at all levels and contribute constructively through our own cooperation.

Priorities for the University Senate's 2025-2027 term of office:

Research

We face up to national and international competition in research in all disciplines. Outstanding research achievements are based on trusting collaboration between academics at all career levels. We want to ensure that academic staff in all Schools and Institutes have competitive working conditions. High-quality research cannot usually be realised without third-party funding. Third-party funded research networks in particular are therefore important for good research opportunities and thus also for the autonomy of the university. We expressly recognise specific specialist cultures in which research is carried out in different scientific disciplines. Cutting-edge research requires freedom for those involved, which is increasingly restricted by administrative conditions, among other things. This freedom must be improved or recreated so that the University of Oldenburg remains an attractive employer.

Teaching

We stand for high-quality teaching in all Schools and degree programmes. In our view, this is the decisive means of countering the risk of falling student numbers. This requires commitment and dedication from all university lecturers at the Bachelor's, Master's, State Examination and doctoral qualification levels. Teaching a solid subject-specific foundation, an interdisciplinary perspective and the ability to act independently, creatively, innovatively and responsibly is a top priority. This creates the best conditions for training students to become independent and critically thinking personalities of integrity, so that they can work successfully in all the academic appointments they aspire to in our society.

We want to create more freedom in studies and at the same time demand and support the necessary commitment from students. It is particularly important that students can also learn from and with each other without fear, that all students can realise their potential, enjoy studying and that a visible increase in knowledge is achieved. The university must take responsibility for ensuring that graduates can find a good start to their careers with the skills and competences they have acquired.

Digitalisation and bureaucratisation

The administrative workload at the university has increased continuously in recent years, not least due to changes in the framework conditions. As a result, research, teaching and administration are suffering in equal measure. We need to make greater use of the opportunities offered by digitalisation in order to streamline processes and thus generate more freedom.

Career prospects in science

We will work at all levels available to us ( University Senate, Faculty Councils, Dean's Offices, Institutes) to utilise and further develop the scope provided by the Academic Fixed-Term Contract Act at our university as comprehensively as possible for the benefit of young academics. In addition, we will advocate employing scholarship holders as academic staff in Research Training Groups just as much as in research projects.

We are committed to the further development of coherent, discipline-specific concepts for doctoral degree programmes and research training groups , but also to the preservation of individual doctorates. We are also in favour of designing coherent concepts for the postdoctoral phase. These must meet the needs of early career researchers and take national and international competition into account so that Oldenburg remains an attractive location for early career researchers. The contract set-ups of the university administration must be based on this maxim and support it.

Sensible personnel development does not end with the promotion of qualification positions. Attractive research and working conditions for mid-level staff must be actively developed in order to attract and retain highly qualified and motivated colleagues. This also includes striving for a balanced ratio between WiMi and LfbA positions in future job structure planning that is appropriate to the specifics of the respective subject.

We are also committed to ensuring that the opportunities provided by the NHG for reducing teaching staff can be utilised.

Internationalisation

The University of Oldenburg, with its medium size, must be well rooted in the region, but must also face up to international challenges in teaching and research, taking into account different disciplinary cultures. We must seize and utilise the resulting opportunities and development possibilities of regional and international cooperation in an appropriate manner. In particular, the opportunities for cooperation with our partner university in Groningen must be further cultivated and expanded, even under the changed political framework conditions.

We are committed to making our degree programmes even more attractive to international students. We expressly support improved opportunities for our students and doctoral candidates to spend parts of their studies and doctorate abroad.

Visiting academics should perceive the university culture, in which they are welcome and well looked after, as attractive and appealing. A university's internationalisation strategy must take these aspects into account.

Family-friendly university

The university's childcare services (crèche, daycare centre) are not sufficient. We are committed to developing an offer that meets the needs of all status groups and to expanding it, especially in times of crisis. The university is growing, but unfortunately the structures needed to reconcile academic appointments and family life are not.

One point is also the better coordination of semester dates with school holidays in order to relieve the burden on students and staff with childcare obligations and to promote the compatibility of family and academic appointments or studies.

Transparency and reliability in academic self-administration

We demand that academic self-administration decisions are made by the competent, expert and elected committees.

We are strongly in favour of the elected bodies, in particular the University Senate, exercising these powers in a pragmatic, consensus-oriented and objective manner. We regard the Academic University Senate as a crucial constructive and critical control and support body for the Presidential Board and as a forum for a lively culture of debate.

Performance and responsibility

The connection between research and teaching is essential for us. Consequently, recognition for performance and commitment in research and teaching. We consider lectures to be the original tasks of university lecturers, which must not be replaced by other activities and extensive delegation. We are highly sceptical of personnel categories that are reduced to either research or teaching.

Autonomy and cohesion

For us, the name "university autonomy" says it all: the university must be and remain a socially autonomous space - both academically and organisationally. We are in favour of the university making important decisions itself in an appropriate, efficient and responsible manner within a reasonable period of time and want to play a constructive role in this. The goal of optimising the (inter)national networking of our university is an important decision-making maxim.