Student Society Witten / Herdecke

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StudierendenGesellschaft Witten / Herdecke e. V.
(SG)
Logo of the StudierendenGesellschaft Witten / Herdecke from September 2016
purpose Promotion of science and research, education and training at the private University of Witten / Herdecke
Chair: Teuta Cilic, Ingmar Lampson, Nils Luerweg, Johanna Stibi, Richard Ulrich, Georg Weithauer
Establishment date: May 25, 1995
Number of members: 3433 As of December 31, 2016

(1414 ordinary, 2019 promotional)

Seat : Witten
Website: www.studierendengesellschaft.de

The StudierendenGesellschaft Witten / Herdecke is a student- run non-profit association that is committed to maintaining and further developing the free study conditions at the University of Witten / Herdecke . The StudierendenGesellschaft is the inventor of the reverse generation contract financing model . She has been handling tuition fees at the University of Witten / Herdecke since 1995.

aims

The goals of the association are set out in the preamble of their statutes:

“In the Student Society Witten / Herdecke, people combine to form a solidarity community and take responsibility for the Private University of Witten / Herdecke as a public and open institution. As a result of this responsibility, the members of the Student Society advocate the promotion of students at the University of Witten / Herdecke and, in particular, pursue the goal of avoiding social restrictions on access to the university. The members of the student society see the maintenance and further development of the freedom conditions and the quality of studies at the University of Witten / Herdecke as a joint task. "

- Preamble to the statutes of the StudierendenGesellschaft Witten / Herdecke eV

implementation

The University of Witten / Herdecke and the association have a contractual partnership with one another. All students make their financial contributions through the student society. Students can freely choose between the income-related late payment and a fixed fee, which is to be paid in monthly installments during the course. The fixed amount corresponds to the cash value of the late payment calculated on the basis of salary assumptions for each course. The payment options can also be combined with each other.

The student society today is based on the three freedoms and the contribution concept as essential principles .

The three freedoms

With its financing model, the association grants students at the University of Witten / Herdecke so-called three freedoms :

Freedom of access to study: the university chooses its students itself based on personality, subject interests and motivation. This selection must be independent of the applicant's financial background. The freedom of all students to pay their financial contribution after or during their studies corresponds to this principle.

Freedom to organize your studies: Freedom and personal responsibility in organizing your studies must not be restricted by a financial contribution. An economization of the course - a limitation of the duration of the course due to financial constraints - is not appropriate to this claim. This principle can be found in the fixed-amount-oriented immediate payment.

Freedom of career choice: All graduates should be able to choose their job freely. The choice must not be restricted by a fixed mountain of debt. This principle can be found in the income-related late payment, i.e. H. after completing your studies you make a contribution according to your financial means.

The contribution idea

The tuition fees processed by the association are based on a special contribution concept that embodies an entrepreneurial understanding of students. At the University of Witten / Herdecke, the contributions of the students are regarded as a contribution to the joint university venture and not as a price or fee for the study. Therefore, the amount of the contribution is derived from the contributor's ability and willingness to contribute and not from the marketability of a subject. This understanding also forms the basis for the contractually agreed regulation that the contributions can only be changed by mutual agreement between the University of Witten / Herdecke and the student society.

history

1994: Introduction of tuition fees

When the students of the University of Witten / Herdecke returned to their university after the semester break in the autumn of 1994, the university's executive committee officially announced to them that a package put together by the state government and the university management at the time for the restructuring of university finances up to the turn of the millennium provided for tuition fees. The following dilemma arose: On the one hand, the students valued the free study conditions at the University of Witten / Herdecke, which would have been jeopardized by an ordinary tuition fee regulation. On the other hand, the financial participation of the students seemed to be inevitable to sustainably secure these study conditions.

1995: Invention of the reverse generation contract

The core idea of ​​the reverse generation contract arose in the middle of the night at the kitchen table of a student flat in Witten: The decoupling of studying and paying tuition fees. If repayment were possible after starting work, economizing the studies could be avoided. With a financial contribution that is based on its own possibilities instead of those of the parents, the university could remain what it is: a university at which individual performance paired with integrity and a sense of responsibility towards the whole are decisive for acceptance . The principle of the reverse generation contract is simple: study first, pay later. In this way, the graduates finance their studies for the respective students.

1995: Foundation of the association

The students felt it was necessary to take the implementation of this concept into their own hands and to set up a student organization for this purpose. The student society was founded in May 1995. Since then she has been handling tuition fees at the University of Witten / Herdecke. The contractually anchored processing of tuition fees in the responsibility of the students can be seen as an example of the development of the basic principles of the University of Witten / Herdecke, encourage freedom , strive for truth , promote social responsibility and its basic entrepreneurial understanding of the university. The amount of the contributions is determined by mutual agreement between the student society and the university.

2001: partner of the university

In 2001, the board of directors of the Private University Witten / Herdecke gGmbH transferred the association to one of 12 board seats. Since the directorate was replaced by a shareholders' meeting in 2009, the student society has been a partner of the university. Their share is currently approx. 7.6%.

2005: Participation in the rescue of the university

In order to provide more support to the Witten / Herdecke University, which had got into financial difficulties, the general meeting of the Student Society decided on June 27, 2005 to charge higher tuition fees for the coming semesters from the 2005/2006 winter semester. Since many universities were demonstrating against the introduction of tuition fees at the same time, this increase in tuition fees at the University of Witten-Herdecke caused a sensation among the public.

2009: Renewed increase in contributions

In the severe financial crisis of the university at the end of 2008, it was decided to increase the contribution again in order to support the university in its restructuring. A temporary renovation contribution was added to the regular contribution, which was reduced in 2014.

2014: First student loan

Due to the growth of the University of Witten / Herdecke to up to 2500 students, there is a funding gap for the student society, as more new students enroll and take advantage of the reverse generation contract than alumni repay their contribution. To bridge the period between the payment of the financial contributions to the university and the start of repayments by the sponsored students, the StudierendenGesellschaft issued its first student bond in November 2014, which has a volume of € 7.5 million, a term of 10 years and a annual fixed interest rate of 3.6%. The bond is traded over-the-counter on the Düsseldorf Stock Exchange; follow-up bonds are planned every three to four years. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung described the bond as an “attractive bond” with a “lush interest rate”.

Others

Well-known (former) members of the supervisory board are the founding president of the University of Witten / Herdecke Konrad Schily , dm founder Götz Werner , medical lawyer Peter Gaidzik , physician Klaus Dörner and journalist Hans Leyendecker .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Preamble to the statutes of the StudierendenGesellschaft Witten / Herdecke eV, 1995
  2. Excerpt from the preamble of the articles of association of the Private University Witten / Herdecke gGmbH, 2009
  3. Der Spiegel, the private university in Witten / Herdecke is threatened with bankruptcy. Financial injections from the country and hefty tuition fees to help (from October 17, 1994)
  4. ^ Alfred Herrhausen: Economy and University. From: Founding lecture of the University of Witten / Herdecke. 1983, p. 37.
  5. ^ The partners of the University of Witten / Herdecke
  6. ZEIT, students from Witten voluntarily pay more (from July 17, 2005)
  7. ^ TAZ, students voluntarily pay higher contributions (from July 12, 2005)
  8. Studierendengesellschaft.de, information about the student loan
  9. ^ FAZ, Investment in Education - How to give the university credit , (from November 16, 2014)
  10. ^ Jan Vestweber: Hans-Georg Beyer, Dr. Felix Fabis and Prof. Götz Werner on the supervisory board of the student society. Press release from the University of Witten / Herdecke. In: idw-online.de . December 19, 2012, accessed April 7, 2020 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 27 ′ 8.2 "  N , 7 ° 21 ′ 26"  E