German University Heads Demand Better Funding In University Medicine

Hochschul rektoren konferenz

University heads have warned that a continuous under funding of universities and their clinics could seriously harm performance in the healthcare sector. They also call for better academic career prospects for young medical graduates.

“University medicine is the most important driver of medical progress in Germany,” says Horst Hippler, president of the Hochschulrektorenkonferenz or HRK, the organisation of university heads in Germany. “So it is in everyone’s interest that research, teaching and patient care at university clinics can be conducted in optimum conditions. But at the moment, we’re a long way off from that.”

A resolution adopted by the HRK calls for measures to remedy what it refers to as a chronic underfunding of universities and university clinics and demands that academic careers be made more attractive for young medical graduates. Career options ought to be made more transparent, and more scope and facilities ought to be provided to engage in research activities.

Enrolments for medicine grew from 82,333 in 1998-99 to 87,863 in 2014-15. Surgery and internal medicine are the two most popular areas to specialise in, accounting for 17% of students each, while 9% opt for general medicine.

“University medicine has a complex role to play,” explains HRK Vice-president Johanna Weber, who is responsible for higher education medicine and health in the organisation. “It is the core of health research and forms the basis of educating new blood. At the same time, it forms a key area of healthcare in Germany and implements innovative therapies.”

Weber stresses that performance and the international competitiveness of university medicine depends on an entire network of political, legal and financial frameworks. She complains that the financial situation of university clinics in particular has worsened over the past few years.

“The current system of case rates in healthcare makes no provisions for the special activities that university clinics engage in and the costs they are faced with,” Weber notes.

Hippler adds that this state of affairs has led to a creeping process of cross-subsidising healthcare at university clinics at the expense of teaching and research. At the same time, urgently required investments have to be postponed again and again.

“Many buildings are unsuitable for modern medical research because they are too old and are in a poor state of repair,” Hippler maintains.