On the evening of 26 June, the protest group “Bielefeld unkürzbar” occupied Lecture Hall 15. The background to this is protests against the reduction in funding allocations from 2026 by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The rectorate was, is and will remain in regular dialogue with the university’s elected student bodies on this issue and has been in contact with the protest group in Lecture Hall 15 since the beginning of the occupation. The protest group acts independently of elected student bodies.
There are still no final figures on the announced reduction by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Bielefeld University therefore does not yet know how extensive the cuts will actually be. The rectorate is currently discussing the possible consequences of financial cuts with the deans, technical and administrative managers and other committees.
Important: The Rectorate has not yet made any decisions on the funding for faculties from 2026 onwards. Far-reaching effects on research, teaching and administration/services at Bielefeld University are to be expected.
The Rectorate has discussed with the elected student representatives of the General Students’ Committee (AStA [Student Union]) how students could be involved in dealing with consolidation, most recently on 18 June. A meeting with representatives of the departmental student representative committees is also planned for next week.
The Rectorate understands that students are concerned about the quality of studies and teaching and has also articulated the possible consequences of massive cuts to the Ministry of Culture and Science of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The rectorate understands the concerns of the protesters. At the same time, it recognises that the occupation has exceeded the legally permissible scope of a protest. The rectorate will tolerate the occupation for the time being. Following discussions with the protest group, the Rectorate assumes that the protest action will end on Saturday, 5 July.
The university management is in intensive dialogue with the faculties so that the cancellation of courses due to the lecture hall occupation can be avoided as far as possible over the next few days. Alternative rooms and teaching formats are currently being sought.
Clarification:
The protest group cites the cancellation of teaching assistant hours for tutorials in the Faculty of History, Philosophy and Theology as examples of cuts by the state. This is not correct. These cancellations in this faculty are in no way connected to the cuts announced by the state. There was very little demand for the tutorials on offer. The faculty has recently revised its financial planning. As a general rule, faculties constantly review their expenditure. It is therefore not unusual for funds to be cancelled or postponed from time to time.
