The so-called “Future Contract for Strengthening Studying and Teaching” that has been agreed by the Federal Government and the German states as the successor to the Higher Education Pact aims to secure internationally competitive study conditions and high-quality teaching at all German universities. Germany implemented the Higher Education Pact in response to enduring high numbers of new students and made available a total of 38.5 billion euros for study programmes and teaching in higher education from 2007 onwards.
Maintaining quality, enabling development
The new agreement between the Federal Government and the German states makes this joint support permanent: the Future Contract for Strengthening Studying and Teaching will provide some 3.8 billion euros per year until 2023 and 4.1 billion euros per year from 2024 for quality assurance measures and further improvement of study conditions and teaching in higher education.
The money is primarily intended to fund permanent positions for university teachers who are responsible for study programmes and teaching.
Permanent funding
Unlike its predecessor, the “Future Contract for Strengthening Studying and Teaching” is not temporary. It makes billions of euros available for teaching purposes in addition to the basic public funding provided for higher education.
The German Council of Science and Humanities (WR) will evaluate the implementation of the Future Contract every seven years. Whether any adjustments are required will initially be decided in 2027.
The German Council of Science and Humanities has advised the Federal Government and the German states on all matters relating to the development of science, research and higher education since 1957.
Future Contract for Strengthening Studying and Teaching
Find out more about the Future Contract on this page. It also provides links to the official document and the statement of the Joint Science Conference (GWK).
www.bmbf.de > Zukunftsvertrag Studium und Lehre stärken (only in German)