TU Berlin - quo vadis ?

Shortly after moving back to Germany in autumn 2022, I remember walking through a Berlin park and feeling amazed at seeing a public demonstration. After spending seven years in China, I was not quite used to that sight anymore. Since then, I have seen many such demonstrations for various reasons in the German capital and even joined the one against runaway rental prices and lawmakers' inability to effectively curb them.

In December 2024, the city of Berlin, as usual citing empty coffers, announced its intention to implement sweeping budget cuts in education and culture. Berlin's universities should get by with €100 million less in 2025—a striking number with grave implications for university staff as well as students, possibly leading to hiring freezes and a reduction in student intake in the coming years. A demonstration quickly followed on December 5th.

The latest twist in the plot struck even closer to home, as it directly targets TU Berlin's Faculty 1, which is home to the Department for Audiocommunications, where I study in a well-regarded Master's program bridging acoustic engineering and communication sciences.

The Department for Audiocommunications' head, Prof. Stefan Weinzierl, is a highly regarded acoustician—he was a consultant for the new Philharmonic Hall in Munich. His background includes training as a pianist as well as studies in sound engineering, physics and musicology. Prof. Weinzierl epitomizes the idea of Faculty 1: interdisciplinarity as a means to foster innovation.

This idea was clearly lost on Berlins Science Senator Czyborra. She proposed in a newspaper interview eliminating TU Berlin’s Faculty 1, arguing that its focus on humanities and educational sciences does not align with the mission of a technical university.

The backlash was immediate. On Saturday, February 22nd, thousands joined a demonstration, moving from Alexanderplatz to the Brandenburger Tor. It felt empowering to be there with my fellow students and express our dissatisfaction.