– through anti-discrimination structures, education and spaces for exchange
Student Life Cycle: Study orientation, starting studies, specialization phase
Target group: Prospective students, first-year students, students, lecturers and staff at universities
University: RheinMain University of Applied Sciences
The "Strengthening Democracy" initiative promotes a discrimination-sensitive and participatory university environment in which all members feel a sense of belonging and receive effective support. By expanding anti-discrimination structures, offering targeted educational programs on developments that threaten democracy, and creating spaces for dialogue, democratic skills are strengthened and the constructive handling of societal challenges is encouraged.
Universities are central places where democratic skills are acquired and practiced. At the same time, institutional hierarchies and precarious employment and study conditions can hinder democratic participation. The "Strengthening Democracy" initiative addresses this issue and aims to improve the structural prerequisites for a discrimination-sensitive and participatory university environment. A key foundation for this is the sense of belonging among all university members. Students, faculty, and staff should experience themselves as part of a community and be able to trust that they will receive effective support in cases of discrimination. Furthermore, as places of knowledge transfer, universities have a responsibility to promote skills in dealing with developments that threaten democracy—for example, with regard to conspiracy narratives, antisemitism, or digital disinformation such as deepfakes. It is equally important that universities provide spaces where current social issues can be constructively discussed and democratic skills can be practiced.
The measure “Strengthening Democracy” pursues the following goals:
*Practical implementation is dependent on available resources.
Several key successes have already been achieved during the project: Establishment of a central anti-discrimination office as a visible and reliable point of contact for university members (since 01/2026); high demand and fully booked training courses on raising awareness of racism for staff (January 19 and February 26, 2026); successful launch of the event series "Doing Democracy" in cooperation with the Teaching and Learning Center to promote exchange and democratic skills (since May 6, 2026)
Diversity Team | antidiskrimination@hs-rm.de
Tel.: +49 611 9495-2329
Maxime Musterfrau
