No decision yet on financial support for students
Germany’s coalition government is yet to reach agreement on supporting the many thousands of students facing financial hardship because of the lockdown measures in force to tackle the coronavirus crisis.
The Class of 2020
GERMANY: As COVID-19 responses in Germany are praised, interest in studying in the country are growing, according to individual university recruitment departments and StudyPortals. While interest does not necessarily correlate with enrolment as many barriers to mobility remain, these observations align with predictions that government responses to this epidemic would contribute to choices of study destination….ANOTHER ANGLE: Students are in dire financial straits, German universities warn. In a country where students are especially reliant on part-time jobs, the shutdown caused by the pandemic has devastated incomes and led to calls for government help.
Germany to Offer Assistance for Students and Academics Due to Coronavirus
The Federal Government has announced that both – academics in the qualification phase leading up to a doctoral degree and the immediately following period, as well as students who are recipients of students loans – will be getting assistance.
Germany postpones decision on reopening schools
Merkel urges caution and Danish authorities note spike in virus reproduction rate since pupils returned to class
Germany is reopening. Cautiously.
Playgrounds, museums, and churches can open again starting May 4. So can hair salons. Many secondary and primary school students will be allowed to return to school that day, though some states and localities opened slightly earlier, with priority going to students who needed to take exams to advance. Other schools will open May 11, though with social distancing rules and likely reduced schedules.
Government provides emergency loans to hard-up students
Germany’s coalition government will provide emergency loans for students whose source of income is threatened by the coronavirus pandemic but who are not entitled to federal grants.
Coronavirus: Germany to reopen all shops and schools this month
But now kindergartens and primary schools will also reopen from next week…“Step-by-step, schools should make possible education of all pupils while implementing appropriate hygiene measures and upholding distancing rules,” the document read…Chancellor Angela Merkel and premiers from Germany’s 16 federal states are expected to sign off on the text later Wednesday…Meanwhile it will be up to the individual regions to decide how to proceed with reopening universities.
As Europe Reopens Schools, Relief Combines With Risk
Restarting classes is central to reviving economies. But one question haunts the efforts: Just how contagious are children, and could they be the next super spreaders? … A study published in Germany last week by the country’s best-known virologist and coronavirus expert, found that infected children carried the same amount of the virus as adults, suggesting they might be as infectious as adults. “In the current situation, we have to warn against an unlimited reopening of schools and nurseries,” concluded the study supervised by Christian Drosten at the Berlin-based Charite hospital. The Robert Koch Institute of public health, Germany’s equivalent of the C.D.C. in the United States, found that children get infected in roughly equal proportions to adults.
German University ‘Campuses’ Have Never Been Closer Than in the Era of COVID-19
This year summer semesters have started differently in German universities. Students are also getting together for their classes, but the campus has now taken the form of a computer screen…The coronavirus pandemic has caused turbulence in the way the world used to operate. As the rate of infection continues to be relatively significant, protective measures against the virus proceed. Although numerous sectors were allowed to reopen as part of the revaluations concerning contact restrictions, many German universities decided to proceed with their teaching on an online basis.
Merkel panic: Germany chaos as thousands take to streets to protest lockdown; ANGELA MERKEL is under pressure after Germany erupted into chaos when thousands took to the streets to protest against coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
Based on infection levels, states will decide on their own about a gradual opening of universities, bars, trade fairs, cosmetic studios, brothels, theatres, cinemas and discos all under certain hygiene and distancing concepts. Individual states will also decide on limiting contact between people.
German universities test steps to emerge from lockdown
Some German states have made moves to partially open their universities for research or teaching as the country eases social distancing measures designed to combat coronavirus.
Exams and Covid-19
Of all the things about daily life that the coronavirus has disrupted so badly, since it has made it all but impossible for even a few people to be in the same vicinity without serious risk to a lot of people's lives, perhaps the worst is the ability of students to attend schools/colleges/universities. Indeed, practically all governments are going so far as lifting restrictions on work, so the economy can function and people can earn once again, but nobody with the possible exception of Germany feels confident enough to extend the relaxation of the lockdowns to schools and colleges just yet.
Rectors’ conference opposes rush to reopen universities
Germany’s Upper House, the Bundesrat, has endorsed a number of measures adopted by the federal parliament to facilitate academic activities in the coronavirus crisis, although it strongly urges the government to do more to back students facing hardship. Meanwhile, the German Rectors’ Conference is warning against any hasty reopening of institutions.
Armed with Roche antibody test, Germany faces immunity passport dilemma
With some also pressing for “immunity passports” to help countries restart their economies and get people back to work, Spahn said his coalition government had asked the German Ethics Council to consider how such a program could fulfil its aims while respecting people’s rights. “The question of what it means for society when some people are hit by restrictions and others are not, that touches on the foundations of how society functions together,” Spahn said at an event at a Roche plant in Penzberg in Bavaria.
Universities: The open debate on the formula for returning to campus (Lexis; login required)
The Germans, who have taken the current semester "almost completely digital", will let each university decide how to return to face-to-face classes, either in a reduced way or with modifications to the facilities. Despite this, Peter-André Alt, president of the rectors of the Ues. Germany, noted that most institutions do not have the space to meet the estrangement.
One million students face hardship as payments stalled
Three weeks after the German federal government announced emergency support measures for students during the coronavirus crisis, money has still not been paid out via a special emergency fund maintained by Deutsches Studentenwerk (DSW or the German National Association for Student Affairs) – leaving one million students in financial hardship.
Germany extends social contact restrictions until June 29 (Lexis; login required)
In a statement published late Tuesday, the government urged citizens to continue to maintain social distancing rules, although some states have allowed groups of up to 10 people to be in public. . . . The government also postponed the decision on lifting restrictions on flights to European countries until June 3. The number of new cases of coronavirus in Germany has risen to its highest level in four days through Wednesday morning….
Rectors’ conference opposes rush to reopen universities
Germany’s Upper House, the Bundesrat, has endorsed a number of measures adopted by the federal parliament to facilitate academic activities in the coronavirus crisis, although it strongly urges the government to do more to back students facing hardship. Meanwhile, the German Rectors’ Conference is warning against any hasty reopening of institutions.