The state government of Lower Saxony has announced that it will now provide 80 million euros for the first construction phase of the new teaching and research building at the University Medical Centre.
"We are delighted with the latest decision by state politicians. It is a stage victory for us and the entire region. University Medicine Oldenburg is the guarantor of medical care in the north-west." With these words, University President Prof Dr Dr Hans Michael Piper reacted to the announcement that the state will now provide 80 million euros for the first construction phase of the urgently needed teaching and research building at University Medicine Oldenburg. "With these funds, we can finally create space for the medical research of our newly appointed professors. This will also enable us to expand cross-border research with our partners in Groningen," says Piper.
The university had already submitted a concept for the teaching and research building (total costs: 142 million euros) and a building application to the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science (MWK) in 2019. The building was registered with the MWK as a "major construction project" for the 2021 budget. At the beginning of July, the state government surprisingly decided not to earmark any funds for the new building in next year's draft budget.
"Many people have fought side by side with us against this decision by the state government over the past few months. We have received great support from the city and region, from medical associations and numerous interest groups. We are deeply indebted to all of them. We could not have done it without them," emphasises Piper.
Reliable financial planning necessary
Nevertheless, the pledge of 80 million euros is not the solution to all problems, explains Prof Dr Hans Gerd Nothwang, Dean of School V - School of Medicine and Health Sciences. "In order to be able to realise the state's planned increase from the current 80 first-year students to around 200 per year by the mid-2020s, we also urgently need rooms for teaching." Although the new building could be constructed in stages, the original space and financial requirements would not change. "We need reliable financial planning for the missing 62 million euros so that we can also create space for teaching," says Nothwang.
The next step is to increase the number of first-year students to 120 for the 2021/22 winter semester. This will require an additional personnel budget of around 10 million euros per year.
In its statement last year on the evaluation of the School of Medicine, the German Council of Science and Humanities attested to an "impressive range of degree programmes" that had been "convincingly implemented". At the same time, the most important science policy advisory body to the federal and state governments called for "a strong commitment by the state to Oldenburg as a location with a strong financial commitment" and urged that the necessary infrastructure be further developed - also in order to realise the expansion of the degree programme agreed with the state government.
The background
A total of 63 professorships and 200 students per year are planned for the final expansion of University Medicine Oldenburg, and thus 1,200 students (6 x 200 students) over all six years in the medium term. In addition to the lack of teaching infrastructure, there is a lack of research space for professors who have already been appointed and those to be appointed in the future.
The calculation by HIS-HE, a recognised Institute for Higher Education Development, showed a space deficit of almost 19,000 square metres for the final expansion. As a first step, a 12,000 square metre teaching and research building is urgently needed. This building would contain the teaching infrastructure for 200 first-year students per year, including anatomy, as well as covering part of the need for wet chemistry laboratory space. The city has a site on Pophankenweg near the university campus in Oldenburg available for this purpose. The costs for this infrastructure measure amount to approx. 142 million euros, of which approx. 82 million euros are for the first important construction phase.
