Miscellaneous
Publication of the performance report 2021 of Studierendenwerke NRW
Cologne, 20 December 2022: The performance report 2021 (Leistungsbilanz - LB 21) of Studierendenwerke NRW offers an informative insight into the diverse work of the student unions.
The twelve student unions in North Rhine-Westphalia are today publishing their performance report for 2021, which provides an overview of the diverse services provided by the NRW student unions. In year two of the Corona pandemic, these continue to present themselves as the core of the social infrastructure at the 37 state universities in Germany's largest higher education area.
Effects of the Corona pandemic on the student unions
Again and again, processes had to be reorganized, services changed and internal and external communications readjusted. Thanks to the dedicated employees and their willingness to take new paths and also to face the changed conditions at the universities (e.g. hybrid teaching and thus less presence in lecture halls, seminar rooms, libraries and ultimately also refectories), the pandemic year 2021 was also emerged unscathed.
Thanks for the support of the state government
In particular, the increase in the general subsidy in fiscal year 2021 by almost 10 percent and the extension of the Corona rescue fund until the end of 2022 greatly help the student unions. The additional funding opened up in the rescue umbrella for psychosocial counseling services and later also for digitization support the student unions all the more in their adjustment processes. The receipt of short-time allowance was able to cushion the greatest financial losses. The goal of the student unions is now to make their offerings and services structurally fit for the future "after Corona". Here, the student unions are counting on the continuation of this necessary support from the state.
Bridging assistance was a great success in NRW
Jörg J. Schmitz, spokesman for Arbeitsgemeinschaft Studierendenwerke NRW and managing director of Kölner Studierendenwerk, emphasizes:
"At this point, a big thank you goes to the students for walking together with their student unions through these not easy times in solidarity. Since the beginning of the Corona pandemic, they have had to bear the greatest burden, both financially and psychologically. I am extremely pleased that with the conclusion of the bridging assistance from the federal government at the end of September 2021, the student unions were able to at least somewhat alleviate the very greatest financial hardship in a total of 154,000 cases with over 42 million euros."
Existing in the present and shaping the future
Not only the higher education landscape, but our entire society is under great pressure to adapt in the face of multiple crises and disruptive events, such as the energy cost crisis resulting from the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the currently very high inflation and the effects of man-made climate change. However, the student unions also see these crises as an opportunity for self-designed change. For this reason, this edition of the performance report pays special attention to the topic of sustainability and the various efforts of the student unions in the context of the goal they have set themselves of becoming climate-neutral by the year 2030.
Freely following Abraham Lincoln's quote, "the best way to predict the future is to shape it yourself," Studierendenwerke NRW also want to make their contribution to a livable coexistence of future generations of students in Germany's largest higher education landscape.
The performance report is published annually on behalf of Arbeitsgemeinschaft Studierendenwerke NRW, c/o Kölner Studierendenwerk AöR