Hands Off the Only Free Teaching and Learning Platform for Students!

The teaching and learning platform un.iversity.org was created using public funds and has been available to students free of charge up to this point. In terms of functionality and user-friendliness, it is unparalleled; moreover, it aligns with educational policy objectives at national, EU, and UN levels. However, in a move that contradicts these goals, un.iversity.org was acquired by SpringerNature, and its imminent shutdown has been announced, with users being directed to migrate to the fee-based platform iversity.org, which bears a confusingly similar name. This was first attempted in 2021 but was deferred following protests, allowing un.iversity.org to continue being hosted by Freie Universität Berlin. Now, Springer has again announced the final closure of the platform on 1 September 2024, while promoting the use of the commercial iversity.org.
 
Aside from the fact that a significant proportion of students live in financially precarious conditions and avoid such expenses, iversity.org is neither comparable in terms of user-friendliness nor functionality to un.iversity.org. The closure of un.iversity.org would further disadvantage many students at risk of poverty – in Germany, this group accounts for more than a third of the student population – which would be incompatible with numerous regulations, agreements, and declarations, such as:
·    Article 14 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
·    SDG 4 of the United Nations, which stresses the provision of quality education, where digital technology plays a crucial role.
·    Recommendations by the Standing Scientific Commission of the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs on cross-university networking for the exchange of digital teaching and learning materials.
·    Recommendations from the Science Council on digitalisation in teaching and studies, and the future-oriented design of teaching and learning.
·    WSIS Geneva Declaration of Principles, which calls for a people-centred information society where everyone has the opportunity to create, access, use, and share information and knowledge. "Everyone, everywhere, should have the opportunity to participate, and no one should be excluded from the benefits of the information society," with science, education, knowledge, information, and communication being central elements.
·    Education 2030 Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action, which emphasises the use of digital technology to enhance education and lifelong learning.
·    UNESCO ICT in Education Programme.
·    Paris Declaration on World Open Educational Resources (OER), which recommends governments promote and ensure the availability of publicly funded educational materials under open licences.
 
If there were an equivalent and free platform available, the shutdown of un.iversity.org might be acceptable; however, this is not the case. Shutting down un.iversity.org would, among other things, deprive students of access to digital collections of resources. Platforms like Moodle or systems built on it, such as ISIS operated by TU Berlin, also suffer from lower user-friendliness and functionality. Moreover, university-specific systems do not support cross-institutional usage, which is a key aspect of educational policy objectives enshrined in Article 165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) concerning the promotion of learner and teacher mobility, collaboration between educational institutions, and the promotion of distance learning. Given that un.iversity.org functions across institutions, it is indispensable for visiting students and lecturers who teach at multiple institutions.
 
The teaching and learning platform un.iversity.org was created with public funds, making it particularly unacceptable that a profit-oriented company now wants to shut it down. The educational mandate established at national and international levels requires, in accordance with Article 9 TFEU, that the free access of students and lecturers to this platform, the only one meeting today’s digital demands, be maintained. Continuing to host un.iversity.org would ensure compliance with national and international obligations at a negligible financial cost.
 
SpringerNature is urged to release un.iversity.org so that it may, for example, be hosted by a public educational institution or a non-profit foundation. SpringerNature, you have the power to ensure that this platform remains accessible to students and educators indefinitely. We call on you: The announcement of the shutdown scheduled for 1 September 2024 needs to be retracted for good!