“We want to start into a decade of innovation”

In order to combat the shortage of skilled workers, Stark-Watzinger wants to strengthen vocational training, which is experiencing a decline, with several instruments: On the one hand, it is planning an excellence initiative for the best training – based on the model of funding for the best universities.

In addition, it wants to redeem the “training guarantee” promised in the coalition agreement, with the federal government again funding non-company training in regions with a significant lack of training places. Such a state-organized training existed at the time of the apprenticeship glut around ten years ago, it was then almost completely dismantled.

Read the full interview here:

Minister, the Ampelkoalition has big plans for education and research. What do you want to do first in the New Year?
One of the first projects is Dati, the German Agency for Transfer and Innovation. We want to transfer the many good ideas on the shelves of our universities more quickly to society and the economy. We will also launch a research data law – it cannot be the case that we have to work with data from other countries, for example in the education system.

The student loan reform is overdue, because the number of those receiving funding is falling continuously. We will also make it less bureaucratic and less dependent on parents – parallel to basic child security. We also want to quickly start an excellence initiative for vocational training.

How exactly should the data accelerate the transfer?
Transfer is a completely different task than research and teaching. Large universities such as the LMU or TUM in Munich are good at creating products from applied research. Others, especially smaller ones, so far hardly. We need a so-called one-stop shop where advice and expertise are bundled so that access is possible from anywhere. We have so many bright minds with whom we can create future technology made in Germany. From biotechnology to hydrogen to polar and marine research. We want to embark on a decade of innovation.

Will the agency for leap innovations go into the data?
No, in the future it should promote groundbreaking ideas even more freely, off the beaten track. To do this, we will expand their budget and independence.

The traffic light promises modernization, the Federal Employment Agency (BA) warns of a “clear cut on the labor market” because more and more skilled workers are lacking. Her predecessor wanted to strengthen dual training, which instead is experiencing a historic decline. How are you going to stop him?
We will facilitate the immigration of skilled workers through a points system and expand the Blue Card to non-academic professions. We also want to bring significantly more young people into training. To this end, there will be an excellence initiative for vocational training and a company-related training guarantee.

The SPD and the Greens wanted a training levy, which the FDP prevented. How do you intend to implement the guarantee without making companies responsible?
Many companies are desperately looking for trainees. We want to improve career orientation and mobility aids so that young people can also consider occupations that they have not previously focused on. In regions with a significant shortage of training places, we will also make external training possible. Because dual training creates practical skills that we urgently need.

There are too few specialists for climate change and digitization among apprentices and students. Does it make sense to significantly expand the student loan – if then, from the point of view of the economy, “wrong” subjects are being studied?
That is the free decision of each individual. But we should start early, especially to get girls interested in technology and science. I hope that current topics such as vaccine development or green tech will help us. Young people in particular are often motivated to want to make the world a better place. And the goal of climate neutrality also includes enthusiasm for a steel mill that runs on hydrogen.

Schools lack teachers en masse in MINT subjects …
We can certainly attract even more lateral entrants. And we want to enable people to learn over their entire life. So someone can do a teacher training course or a teacher can study a new subject.

Life chances student loans and educational savings

In addition to young talent and immigration, further training is the decisive instrument for securing skilled workers: there is no big hit in the coalition agreement.
Not correct. On the one hand, Minister of Labor Heil will ensure that job centers no longer have to give priority to jobs, so that qualification becomes a real alternative for many more people. On the other hand, we will create the life chances student loan as a new instrument and promote educational savings. It gives everyone access to continuing education.

What can a 40-year-old saleswoman or a sociologist expect who would like to follow up on technical training?
Above all, you will benefit from the planned expansion of the advancement student loan. They could also use the new life opportunities student loan for further education. The key is that there are more options for everyone in the future.

The new KMK President Prien is demanding more money from the federal government to fill the corona gaps – what can the federal states hope for?
We should talk about goals first and then about money. So about what it takes to catch up. A summer camp is not enough. It’s a long-term task. At the moment, the main thing is to ensure that no more lessons are canceled if possible.

The coalition agreement promises a large number of expensive large-scale projects for education and research: permanent funding for the digital pact, an aid program for 8,000 schools in socially disadvantaged areas, significantly more money for universities, but also for research. You headed the finance committee, your budget is currently the sixth largest in the cabinet with a good 20 billion euros – how much growth do you need to manage all of this?
We are currently conducting budget talks for 2022 and are calculating the need. But we also think about what can be done differently and more cheaply. I confidently say: We are the Ministry of Opportunities. Education, research and innovation are central to mastering the challenges that lie ahead and for the prosperity of tomorrow. So it would be money well invested.

Roughly speaking, you need a few billion more each year.
(laughs) I’ll discuss the details with the finance minister.

Where should Christian Lindner get more money from? The debts must not be increased, neither the taxes under pressure from the FDP.
That is also correct, because we stand for solid budgetary policy and do not want to put additional strain on the economy. With the economic recovery in the new year, there will be more leeway. That is why I am optimistic that we can finance our projects well.

Ms. Stark-Watzinger, is it okay to extend the Christmas vacation?
Education must be a top priority. Our children have already suffered enough from Corona, especially socially disadvantaged people. We therefore absolutely have to avoid school closings across the board, also in the form of extended holidays. In addition, schools have not yet been a driver of pandemics.

Rather, tests and hygiene measures stabilize. That is why the federal government has also extended the air filter program, of which only a few million have so far been accessed. The Minister of Economic Affairs and I both agree that mobile air filters need to be subsidized for longer. But we also need more speed in drawing up funds.

How do you feel about vaccination requirements?
The topic is understandably highly emotional. After all, it is about both an encroachment on fundamental rights and the protection of health. I will take a close look at the group proposals in the Bundestag before I make a decision. There are many unanswered questions.

A small group of liberals around Wolfgang Kubicki is strictly against it. Do you understand, or does that strengthen lateral thinkers?
This position deserves as much respect as any other. It is right that we have a broad debate in Parliament and in society as a whole.

Is there an incompatibility between liberalism and solidarity with one another?
Not at all. Freedom and responsibility always belong together. In a pandemic, however, the freedom of the individual must not be a means of disposal. The principle of proportionality tells us to always choose the mildest remedy in the event of restrictions.

Researchers were severely attacked – including death threats. The science organizations have complained massively against the reporting, especially in the “Bild” newspaper – rightly?
One can and should critically question science. However, personal hostility and threats have nothing to do with it. You are to be condemned.

You are one of the few top women in the FDP – why do the liberals have a problem there?
Liberalism is perhaps a little quieter because gender or origin should not be decisive. But that does not mean that we are less energetic when it comes to the issue of women’s representation. The good news: the proportion of women in the executive bodies of the party and parliamentary group is quite good when measured against the ratio of female members. And of the parties without a quota, we have the most women in the Bundestag with 24 percent – ahead of the CDU / CSU. We have to keep working to make sure there are more.

Wouldn’t it be time for a Federal President too?
The time is always right for women in management positions. But Frank-Walter Steinmeier worked well and compensated for the pandemic in particular. That’s why I support him. In the future, however, I would like to see a woman as head of state.
Ms. Stark-Watzinger, thank you for talking to us.

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