Results now online at: www.studiwerke-rlp.de
The student services organisations in Rheinland-Pfalz (Kaiserslautern, Koblenz, Mainz, Trier and Vorderpfalz) have teamed up with the LandesAStenKonferenz Rheinland-Pfalz (LAK) to launch a central information platform for the 2026 state elections. The website www.studiwerke-rlp.de transparently presents the parties' positions on key higher education and social policy issues in the form of so-called election benchmarks.
The initiators' goal:
Using the election benchmarks to create transparency regarding the parties' positions on higher education and social policy, thereby providing all interested voters with a sound basis for making decisions in the state elections. First and foremost, this is likely to be the more than 100,000 students in Rheinland-Pfalz and their families, the employees of the student services organisations, and the higher education community.
The advantage: election manifestos often run to dozens of pages, whereas election benchmarks summarise the parties' positions on selected issues in a clear and comparable manner.
Nine questions on key issues for student services organisations
The parties were asked to answer nine questions which, from the perspective of the student services organisations and the LAK, relate directly or indirectly to the organisation of student life on and around campus. These questions concern:
- the importance of student services organisations in the context of higher education development,
- the sustainable financing of residential facilities and canteens,
- affordable rents and rising living costs,
- support for the ongoing operation of canteens and cafeterias,
- social and psychological counselling services,
- internationalisation and integration of international students,
- sustainability and environmental responsibility,
- digitalisation and infrastructure for student housing,
- and the long-term financial stability of student services organisations in Rheinland-Pfalz
The parties had a maximum of 1,500 characters available for each response. The comments received are published in full, without comment and in their original wording.
Broad support
The initiative is supported by the Federal Association of Student Services (DSW) and the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland (Parity Welfare Association of Rhineland-Palatinate/Saarland). These partnerships and accompanying media work are intended to ensure broad public awareness of the election issues.