German factories and low-income neighbourhoods left exposed to massive COVID-19 outbreaks
People are getting infected by COVID-19 at especially high rates in workplaces, schools and low-income neighbourhoods in Germany. Several studies and examples testify to this. Nonetheless, they receive virtually no protection and are largely excluded from lockdown measures. This also applies to the recently adopted “federal emergency brake.”
For workplaces in particular, there are almost no protective measures and the few that exist are never reviewed and enforced. The number of workplace safety inspections declined during the first year of the pandemic by 15 percent. Factories must remain open so profits continue to flow, even if this means that workers’ health and lives are put at risk.
Germany’s official COVID-19 contagion policy puts hundreds of thousands of students and educators at risk
The amendment to Germany’s Infection Protection Act, passed last week, reinforces the government’s reckless contagion policy in schools and threatens the health of thousands of students and educators.
New COVID-19 infections in Germany have averaged around 20,000 per day in recent weeks. That is more than three times the total at the peak of the first lockdown. According to the latest report by the renowned Robert Koch Institute (RKI), coronavirus infection figures have increased among younger people, largely due to the opening up of schools.
COVID: Man wins case against state over holiday home onenewspage.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from onenewspage.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
COVID: Man wins case against state over holiday home ban
The German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had ordered holidaymakers to leave due to tightened COVID curbs. The owner of a holiday home sued and a court ruled the measure was illegal.
Rügen is a popular holiday destination for Germans
A man has won a court case against the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after his family was ordered to leave their holiday home when COVID curbs were tightened last month.
The German newspaper
Bild reported how Stephan Goericke from Potsdam in the eastern state of Brandenburg argued that the measure, meant to help reduce the third wave of coronavirus infections, was discriminatory.
Mixing soft and hard power approaches to international HE
In recent years, Germany has become the fourth most popular international destination for study abroad in the world. The German federal government places emphasis on internationalising the higher education landscape and is progressively adopting new policies in order to strengthen it with the support of a range of actors, especially through the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
Foundational values
German federal policy is built on valuing higher education as a public good and traditionally promotes a specific type of internationalisation through cooperation, fostering academic freedom, contributing to development and participating in efforts to solve global problems.