Halle (dpa/sa) - The statistics professor Claudia Becker is to be introduced to the office of rector of the Martin Luther University (MLU) Halle-Wittenberg this Monday. The university announced that Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) and Science Minister Armin Willingmann (SPD) were invited to the ceremony.
Becker - born in 1967 - was elected by the university senate in July. She succeeds the legal scholar Christian Tietje, who headed the university for four years and withdrew his candidacy after a resounding defeat in the first ballot. Tietje should officially say goodbye on Monday.
According to the university, Becker's term of office normally lasts until August 30, 2026. Challenging tasks await them: the university is facing a tough austerity program. Several professorships are to disappear, entire disciplines are no longer offered.
The reason for this is a desolate budget, which the austerity measures are intended to bring back into balance. In the past few years, there was usually a lack of around ten million euros. The state government considers the situation to be homemade and insists on compliance with the financial framework. According to the university rectorate, on the other hand, decades of underfunding in particular are contributing to the problems that have arisen.
According to its own statements, the 500-year-old university currently has around 20,500 students. There are 260 courses on offer, including humanities, economics and medicine.
