Press release from the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Art and Culture
Hesse's Minister of Science, Timon Gremmels, Minister for Digital Affairs, Prof. Dr. Kristina Sinemus, and the Hessian universities have signed the Hessian Digital Pact for Higher Education 2026-2031 ("Digital Pact 2.0"). Digital Pact 2.0 complements the Hessian Higher Education Pact 2026-2031. It builds on the successes and experiences of the first Digital Pact, which ran from 2020 to 2025. Over the next six years, €120 million will be invested in the digital transformation of Hessian universities.
Science Minister Timon Gremmels explains: “The Digital Pact 2.0 provides Hessian universities with a reliable financial basis for key digitization projects in research, teaching, the arts, and administration over the next six years. It builds on previous achievements and contributes to providing universities with the best possible support in their digital transformation. By transferring €10 million annually into the universities' core budgets, it secures existing structures and creates the conditions for permanent employment contracts. In doing so, and fully in line with the coalition agreement, we acknowledge the importance of digitization as a new, ongoing task for Hessian universities.”
Hesse's Digital Minister, Prof. Dr. Kristina Sinemus: "Digitalization is the key for universities to make teaching and research future-proof and to achieve greater innovation and speed in knowledge transfer. The first Digital Pact already enabled universities to significantly advance digitalization. With the second pact concluded today, universities will also be able to respond to future developments. All universities participating in the Digital Pact have a fiber optic connection – a rate of 100 percent."
“The Digital Pact 2.0, which has now been concluded, is a necessary step towards the permanent financing of digitalization at Hessian universities. The transfer of funds into the universities' core budget is particularly noteworthy,” says Prof. Dr. Thomas Nauss, spokesperson for the Conference of Hessian Universities.
“Digitalization is one of the important ongoing tasks for all universities. All core areas are affected: teaching, research, and administration. Therefore, we are pleased that the basic budget of the Digital Pact provides every university with planning security in these financially challenging times. With a view to the competition for IT specialists, we must remain competitive and offer long-term prospects,” explains Prof. Dr. Karim Khakzar, spokesperson for the Hessian universities of applied sciences.
“This also applies to art academies: digitization and AI are becoming increasingly important for the production and distribution of art. We want to actively shape this development. We had hoped for more, but we welcome the fact that the Digital Pact guarantees us additional funding in the core budget on a permanent basis. We need the project funding that the Digital Pact provides beyond this, and we need it to be as unbureaucratic as possible, so that we can participate in areas of innovation,” explains Prof. Elmar Fulda, spokesperson for the art academies.
Regarding the Digital Pact
In 2020, the state of Hesse and its universities concluded a Digital Pact that is unique in Germany. Over the past five years, €112 million in funding has been provided. This has enabled, for example, the establishment of a Digital Transformation Office at each university to strengthen the diverse processes of digitalization with professional expertise and to achieve synergy effects. Within the Hesse Network for Digital Teaching (Hessenhub), all universities have jointly developed and continue to develop tools and concepts for future-proof digital teaching.
The Digital Pact 2.0 continues this course – even under the current challenging financial conditions. The key objectives of the new Digital Pact are to provide financial support for digitalization as a new, ongoing task for universities, to enable the continuous development of existing structures, and at the same time to create space for new and innovative projects.
The Digital Pact 2.0 addresses the following key aspects:
- Increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of Hessian universities,
- Strengthening cooperation between Hessian universities according to the principle of "together first",
- continuous development of existing structures and establishment of new ones in research, art, teaching and administration,
- cooperative implementation of administrative digitization and corresponding legal requirements,
- Strengthening the digital sovereignty and resilience of Hessian universities,
- new, innovative and exploratory projects.
The focus of the Digital Pact 2.0 project funding will be on multi-year digitization projects, jointly undertaken and implemented by the participating universities. The Digital Pact 2.0 aims to strengthen Hessian universities and enable them to actively shape their role in an increasingly digital society.
With a six-year term, the Digital Pact 2.0 creates planning security, stability, and reliability for the coming years. It will come into effect on January 1, 2026, as will the Hessian Higher Education Pact 2026-2031.