Universities in Germany like to advertise with brilliant slogans such as innovation, quality improvement and internationalization. However, for academic employees, student assistants and students, the working and study conditions are usually less positive or innovative: for years, fixed-term contracts, short-term contracts for assistants, and a lack of collective bargaining regulations for students have been a feature. Assistant staff, a constant increase in tasks and too low BAföG rates as well as chronic underfunding and a dilapidated infrastructure are affecting everyday working and studying life at German universities, including at FAU.
