University development plan 2025
The university landscape in the Free State of Saxony is diverse and vast. The four universities, five universities of fine arts and five universities of applied sciences - each with their specific focus - guarantee a comprehensive and most diverse range of courses. For safeguarding the 14 state universities in the long term, the University Development Plan 2025 (HEP) was adopted as agreed in the coalition agreement 2014-2019. It gives the 14 state universities in Saxony long-term planning security. It is valid from 2017 up to and including 2024 and defines the strategic guidelines for higher education policy.
The agreement marked a switch away from formerly capacity reduction and towards constant staffing at a stable financial level. This ensures a high quality of teaching and research as well as a good supervisory relationship at the universities. There have been no job cuts for the first time since 1990.
9,034 jobs are available each year for the 14 state universities. The Free State remits approximately 600 million euros towards personnel costs to the universities according to the grant agreement every year. It also remits around 70 million euros towards material costs and investments every year. With the approval of the universities, the originally decided reduction of 754 jobs, as agreed in the coalition agreement, was dropped out of the 2025 development plan.
The university development plan interlinks the course range and research fields, and coordinates them across the country, so that each university location can set its own focus. This provides an attractive range of courses with a wide spectrum of subjects in about 1000 study programmes. The development plan stabilises the strengthening of the universities of applied sciences and maintains the quota of more than 40 percent of MINT subjects. Educational institutions are based on the model of the inclusive university. For the first time, the university development plan requires every university to prepare personnel development and equality concepts.
As part of Public Service, the Free State of Saxony is responsible for ensuring that there are sufficient number of graduates to perform public tasks, especially in professions such as teachers, doctors, pharmacists and lawyers. The examination regulations (state part) of the respective course of study to fulfill these public tasks are regulated by federal or state government by law or ordinance. Accordingly, it is currently agreed with the universities that up to 2,700 first-year teacher study places will be made available each year. An ambitious project which is demanding for our universities. In the interest of regional supply, teacher training at Chemnitz University is now permantly provided. In addition to TU Dresden, the University of Leipzig will in future offer study places for vocational teachers who are needed by Saxony's companies and apprentices.
Apart from additional study places for teacher training, the capacity for human medicine is being expanded. Therefore the Free State of Saxony will provide 615 first-year study places for human medicine alone.
