Cuts at the university

Situation at the University of Hamburg

As of January 21, 2026

The University of Hamburg is structurally underfunded and cannot adequately pay for staff, buildings, research equipment, and similar items with the budget provided by the city of Hamburg. This fact has been clear for years, as the money from the city is not sufficient to cover needs and costs. As a result, structural underfunding is continuously growing.

As a result of this policy by the city of Hamburg and the redistribution of financial burdens and responsibility to employees and students, working and studying conditions are repeatedly coming under scrutiny and deteriorating. Since labor costs are a major expense for the faculties, this is precisely where attempts are being made to save money: the result is job cuts and precarious and non-standard employment conditions.

Since 2013, the University of Hamburg has been required by the city of Hamburg to use up its financial reserves. The reduction of reserves was supposed to be accompanied by an adjustment of the budget, but this has never happened.

We can still see the consequences of the austerity measures taken at that time today: well-known examples are the Geomatikum on Bundesstraße and the chemistry department on Martin Luther King Platz (MLK). Broken ceilings, sanitary facilities, lecture halls, and seminar rooms are sadly the norm.

Since these austerity measures affect not only the building infrastructure but also the teaching and working conditions of academic, technical, and administrative staff, positions have been systematically left unfilled for years. The result is increasing work intensity and overload for all employee groups.

This overload is particularly evident among student employees. Against this backdrop, the TV-Stud union initiative was founded in 2021 to fight for a separate tariff agreement for students. Student employees are still excluded from tariff-based pay—which in some cases is paid too late—even though the work of the approximately 4,000 student employees at universities is indispensable for scientific operations and teaching.[1]

What happened in 2025?

By 2025, the University of Hamburg had used up all its financial reserves, but faced additional annual costs of €17.6 million. To raise this sum, the Executive Board required all faculties to make savings of 4.5%, i.e. to implement cutbacks.

This so-called “cost contribution” is forcing the faculties to make cutbacks in teaching and research and to make concrete improvements in working and studying conditions. These measures are already in full swing, and although not even 4.5% but only an average of 1.8% has been achieved, there are already massive effects on studying conditions.

Shortly before the start of the semester, an alliance was therefore formed against the underfunding of the university and against the parallel increase in semester fees by around 50 euros. The additional costs result primarily from the increase in the semester ticket and the financing of the Hamburg Student Union (STWHH). It is striking once again that the student body is financing significantly more than the city of Hamburg, contributing approximately 11.7 million euros. [2] So here, too, we are shouldering the underfunding by paying more.

During talks with the AStA and representatives of the student councils, the university presidency refused to publicly show solidarity with the students and join the fight against the cuts. Instead, it opted for private negotiations with the city of Hamburg. As pressure from the faculties continued to grow, the university administration finally published an “urgent letter” to the Ministry of Science, Research, and Equality. The letter explicitly states that the reduction in reserves was made at the request of the city of Hamburg and that structural bottlenecks had been concealed for years. The responsibility lies with the city of Hamburg. [3]

Maryam Blumenthal (Alliance 90/The Greens), Senator of the Ministry of Science, Research and Equality (BWFG Hamburg), attempted to shift this responsibility onto the university, its employees, and its students at a meeting of the Academic Senate (AS) on December 11, 2025.

Prospect of cuts: “Structural process” 2026

Since the University of Hamburg's budget remains too low and the city of Hamburg has so far been unwilling to provide additional funds, further cuts are now being made at the university. This is eating away at its substance.

Even though some argue that these are not cuts because the basic budget is increasing by 2%, one thing is clear: where jobs are being cut and people are losing their jobs, where savings are being made in teaching and the range of courses on offer is shrinking, and where faculties are no longer able to plan their future work, that is where cuts are being made.

The so-called “structural process” – i.e., the systematic reduction of teaching and jobs, the merging of administrative functions, and cost savings through cuts in material resources – represents a direct attack on the teaching and working conditions of all university employees and students.

The so-called “structural process,” which will begin in 2026, is based on various calculations of the future financial situation of the University of Hamburg. Specifically, three scenarios are being considered, according to which funding gaps of “only” €37 million or up to €61 million will arise by 2032.

In planning the structural process and distributing the cuts among the faculties, the university management is basing its decisions on the most optimistic of these scenarios and is assuming average cuts to the overall budget of 13% by 2032.

The cuts are due to several factors: On the one hand, there is already a structural underfunding of €17.6 million. In addition, there are additional funding gaps in individual faculties, for example in psychology and movement science as well as in the MIN faculty, which together amount to around €5 million. On the other hand, the so-called “cost gap” is widening further: the budget is only increasing by 2% annually, while costs are growing by around 3% per year. In addition, a real wage loss of 1% is assumed for the period from 2026 to 2032, which will further strain the financial situation.

The entire “structural process” is accompanied by optimism that the city will provide more subsidies. However, the city has made it clear on several occasions that there will be no subsidies, and other funds, such as the excellence funds, are also likely to be lower than hoped for.

One thing remains clear: as little information as we currently have at our disposal, we are clearly feeling the effects of the City of Hamburg's austerity measures at our university. The average 13% cut is an attack on all of us, and some faculties are being hit even harder: In the MIN and PB faculties, there is already talk of cuts of 16 up to 24%, which means that the existence of entire degree programs, specializations, and jobs is at stake. By 2032, 370 to 400 full-time positions are to be cut across all areas of the university. Smaller degree programs are particularly threatened by this course of action.

Over our heads? Not with us!

Every cutback measure—whether it's the reduction of teaching assistant positions, the cancellation of seminars, the elimination of administrative positions, or savings in material resources—is being implemented without the participation of the affected interest groups. We students are particularly affected by this: we are not involved in the decisions at any stage, but in the end we have to bear the consequences of the City of Hamburg's austerity measures and their implementation by the Presidium in the faculties.

Cuts are not a law of nature, but the result of political decisions to underfund education. It is up to all of us who work and study at the University of Hamburg to fight for the preservation of teaching and for fully funded education.

The so-called “structural process” is a direct attack on our study and working conditions. Only together, in solidarity and side by side with the employees, can we stand up for the preservation and full funding of teaching and research, for all jobs, and for better working conditions and collective bargaining wages for all.

Get organized in your student councils, at TV-Stud, and in the unions! Come to the nationwide university action day on the University of Hamburg campus on January 28, 2026, at 10 a.m.!

Department for Campus Democracy

References:

[1] Hamburger Abendblatt: „Hamburger Unis in der Kritik: Löhne zu spät ausgezahlt“ (https://www.abendblatt.de/hamburg/politik/article410931717/so-prekaer-sind-die-arbeitsbedingungen-von-studenten-an-hamburger-unis-1.html, 16.01.2026)
[2] Vgl. Geschäftsbericht des STWHH 2024 (https://www.stwhh.de/fileadmin/user_upload/STW_Hamburg/__Downloads/Presse/Geschaeftsberichte/Geschaeftsbericht_2024_STWHH2.pdf, 16.01.2026)
[3] Süddeutsche Zeitung: „Uni sieht Arbeit angesichts knapper Mittel gefährdet“ (https://www.sueddeutsche.de/bildung/hochschulfinanzierung-uni-sieht-arbeit-angesichts-knapper-mittel-gefaehrdet-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-251208-930-395408, 16.01.2026)