On 24 March 2023, the Department of Low German and Sater Frisian at the Institute for German Studies welcomed around 70 guests from politics, schools, culture and the university to the Haarentor campus of the University Library in Oldenburg for a joyous occasion that has long been anticipated in Lower Saxony: a new Bachelor's degree programme in Low German will open in Oldenburg in the winter semester of 2023/2024. Three years later, two teaching-related Master's degree programmes will follow - one for teaching at Hauptschulen and Realschulen and the other for teaching at Gymnasien. The degree programmes are currently being accredited. Teacher training for Low German, which will soon be introduced as a compulsory elective subject at secondary schools in Lower Saxony, is due to begin in Oldenburg this autumn. The introduction of the Bachelor's degree in Low German this year coincides with the 25th anniversary of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which prepared the political ground for Low German as a school subject at schools and for teaching-related degree programmes at universities.

The audience was welcomed by Jörg Peters, Professor of Sociolinguistics and Pragmatics/Low German and also Head of the Institute for German Studies, and Doreen Brandt, Junior Professor of Low German Literature. After words of welcome from the Lower Saxony Minister of Culture, Julia Willie Hamburg, the Vice President for Young Academics, Equal Opportunities and Diversity at the University of Oldenburg, Prof. Dr Annett Thiele, and the Dean of the School of Linguistics and Cultural Studies at the University of Oldenburg, Prof. Dr Gun-Britt Kohler, the aims and structure of the new degree programmes were presented. A programme of presentations then awaited the participants, with contributions highlighting the relevance of Low German at school and university from a school, language policy and university perspective. One wish was repeatedly expressed by both the audience and the speakers: the introduction of a Master's degree programme for primary school teachers. According to the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs of Lower Saxony, there are currently no plans to integrate Low German into the curriculum of primary schools in Lower Saxony. Whether representatives of schools, the regional state offices for schools and education or the Low German advisory network, the districts, counties and regional associations in Lower Saxony, the Bunnsraats för Nedderdüütsch and the Low German Secretariat, universities and other institutions - the audience and speakers agreed that the next step would be to establish a training programme for primary school teaching in Low German in Lower Saxony.

Currently, only the University of Greifswald offers this training programme. Low German can also be studied there as a subsidiary subject. In Kiel, Low German is a supplementary subject, which is also to be introduced in Flensburg next year.

The future degree programmes in Oldenburg will be undergraduate Low German degree programmes with courses on the language, literature and didactics of Low German and practical language exercises for a teaching position at secondary schools, but will also prepare students for a subsequent doctorate in the subject of Low German or for extracurricular activities, e.g. in the field of media and culture. Currently, students of German studies in Oldenburg can complete a specialisation in Low German and graduate with a Low German certificate. This programme is to be continued.

The lecture programme was followed by a champagne reception with musical accompaniment by the Schneider Swing Trio from Oldenburg. The event "Niederdeutsch macht Schule" was generously sponsored by the Oldenburg University Society. It was organised by the staff of the Low German and Sater Frisian focus area in Oldenburg. The event was supported by student assistants Thees Becker, Annalena Otte, Janna Sanders and Joschka von Lienen. We would like to thank all supporters and contributors to the launch event, as well as all colleagues and students at the University of Oldenburg and from the Low German community who were involved in the planning and accreditation of the degree programmes.

Further information on the Low German degree programme in Oldenburg.