An artistic Exploration of obstacles to access to education, training and research for New Berliners

The value of free research and teaching for society and for each individual becomes particularly clear when this is jeopardized. Political repression in the school and university sector, marginalization, intersectional discrimination, or a lack of choice in education are key reasons for many people to come to Germany, specifically to Berlin. Even today, almost 20 percent of students enrolled in Berlin are new to Germany, and many of them come from countries where academic freedom is under threat.

What do freedom and academic freedom mean to these newcomers? What are their expectations of academic freedom, vocational training and higher education? Are their expectations fulfilled and, if not, why not?

We asked these questions to young and new Berliners. Assisted by filmmaker Nagehan Uskan and radio play director Anouschka Trocker, they documented their answers and their research process in artistic ways.

New Berliners from Pakistan, Algeria, Turkey and Afghanistan who were already in higher education or preparing to continue their university education in Berlin, took part in our creative workshops on either radio or video production. Four days of intensive collaboration included an introduction to audio and video recording techniques, the definition of research questions, the collection of (audio and visual) data, the collective creation of the dramaturgy and finally the editing process of the documentations.