what 'soft' means is that rather than the 'hard' money of the university i.e. labor contracts with the university workers/researchers, every researcher (except a very small minority) needs to apply for money to non-governmental institutions of research or companies for support. this brings about the necessity of rationalisation of specific research project with the thorough checks by the funding institutions deciding on the success, necessity and the productivity of the project. the reason i am giving the historical account is to discuss the current situation of the graduate students in heidelberg (and hopefully in germany). the reason it is called subjective is that, it is written from the perspective of the graduate students.
although i have my own personal feelings on the topic, the reason i am giving the historical account is to discuss the current situation of the graduate students in heidelberg (and hopefully in germany). the reason it is called subjective is that, it is written from the perspective of the graduate students.
as i said, given the system itself the important part was not the properties of the soft-money scheme but rather the switch to it. as a new system is put into place it takes time for the concerning parties to adapt, which eventually the changes that are advantageous to the group in power will take place to the disadvantage of the others. this was precisely what happened to the graduate students of germany.
it is well known that graduate students consist most of the researcher positions in any institute or university, and the new funding scheme directly affected the labor contracts between the students and the institutes. in the former times, students were employed by the university in exchange of not only doing research but also providing certain services for the universities. this was in greater affect teaching.
with the transformation to a research university, the students started to support their studies either through fellowships or through soft-money which essentially money flows from funding institutions to the university but with certain strings, like to be spent only for the research related activities that the money is awarded for. i.e. the university can not use the money coming from private or public foundations for research simply to employ administration, or construction etc. this fact applies and should have applied to the employment of the graduate students for the case of research vs teaching.
as we know, in u.s. universities (where actually the soft-money system is based on) the payment schemes of the students are clearly separated as teaching assistantship and research assistantship. this clear separation simply does not exist in germany. teaching is simply defined as a learning activity for the students and since there can be no constraints on the university prerequisites towards receiving a degree.
The Department of Physics and Astronomy regards teaching as a vital component in the education of doctoral students, not only to reinforce their knowledge in a particular subject of physics, but also to aid in developing their communication skills. Teaching is also often simply a rewarding exercise for the doctoral student.**
so here is our dilemma, somewhere along the line the teaching activity has evolved from a university service that is a part of the labor contract to a learning activity. and the story does not end here, while the former diploma (now bachelor) students can be employed to tutor the same kind of class, the phd students are teaching without any form of contract. when we consider also the post-docs who participate with the teaching of the tutorials, we end up with a situation where a certain group of people are employable (undergraduates, post-docs), the graduate students are not.
our demand is very simple; equal pay for equal work
* Etzkowitz, H. ''Research groups as ‘quasi-firms’: the invention of the entrepreneurial university'' Research Policy, 2003, 32, 109
** from Teaching requirements for graduate students
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