14.11.2017, 16:17
The Aktionsbündnis gegen Bildungs- und Studiengebühren (English: Action Group Against Study Fees) (ABS), along with many of its partners in North Rhine-Westphalia, is calling for a demonstration against tuition fees. The federal state government in Düsseldorf, headed by the CDU and FDP, intends to introduce tuition fees for non-EU/EEA students. We see this as an attempt to reintroduce tuition fees for all students through the back door.
International students no longer feel welcome. The tuition fees are quite obviously intended to discourage our fellow students from studying in Germany, although only between four and five percent of all students in Germany are from outside Europe. Now, for these few, additional obstacles are to be put up.
This kind of “campus toll” has already been in place in Baden-Württemberg since the winter semester of 2017/18. With devastating consequences. The proportion of newly enrolled students from non-European countries has plummeted. Universities there are now very concerned about their internationality.
It is unbelievable that a country as rich as Germany, which contributes significantly to the exploitation of the Global South with its agricultural and economic policies, is not prepared to provide education to foreign students from the countries concerned. In this way, the division between rich and poor countries is intensified. This campus toll will also lead to a massive drying up of scientific and cultural exchange for international students at universities.
These fees do not fit the universities' own self-conception. Until recently, international students were still regarded as a benefit for the landscape of higher education in Germany. International exchange has a positive effect on the regions in which the students are educated, the students' own countries of origin, and of course, on the students themselves. The paradigm shift towards a perception of these students as financial burdens is unacceptable.
It reflects the mindset of the CDU-FDP state government in North Rhine-Westphalia, representing a mixture of provincialism and neoliberal ideas.
However, education is not a commodity, but a human right which must be made available to everyone free of charge. No matter where the person is from - or where they are going.
Tuition fees exacerbate the economic and social crisis in the education system. They are not suitable for remedying universities' chronic underfunding. The argument of fee advocates that international students will just leave Germany after completing their studies and are therefore "not entitled to receive support from the German social security system" must be opposed clearly and strongly in times of increasing right-wing populism. Especially because this argument simply does not hold in practice.
The ABS is expressly opposed to education fees of any kind.
Therefore - come to the demonstration on November 21, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. at the DGB-NRW-Haus, Friedr.-Ebert-Str. 34-38 in Düsseldorf. Take a clear stand against the NRW state government’s plans.
