“WHAT?! That’s definitely just clickbait.” Most people probably thought this or something similar when they read the headline.
But unfortunately no, from 01.01.2017 professors are no longer allowed to upload anything to OSCA. At least no scripts, articles or book excerpts. But why, many may ask? That hasn’t been a problem so far.
We want to explain it to you:
The Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) has reached an agreement with the collecting society Wort (VG Wort, a kind of GEMA for texts) that states that the use of copyrighted texts must be reported and paid for individually for each text. Until now, Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences has always paid a flat rate for the provision of the texts, but this will no longer be possible from the new year. This means higher financial effort on the one hand, and administrative effort on the other. And it is not acceptable. This is also due to the fact that publishers can determine the price for the use of texts and the university is forced to accept and pay this price.
What does this mean for us?
Well, OSCA will soon be very, very empty, because the lecturers are not even allowed to upload their own texts, if they have given them to publishers.
AND! Much more important, you have to look for everything yourself. You have to scan the library, the book, borrow it or copy it. And most of you know how problematic this can be: The book is borrowed because it only exists a few times. You have to go to the library, because it is not available online and in the end you are just annoyed. In a pinch, you have to buy the documents/books yourself.
So not only will the studies be more difficult for us, but also the teaching for the lecturers. In the end, the educational mandate is lost as a result.
And what do we do now?
Download everything from OSCA quickly!
Unfortunately, the university itself’s hands are tied, as this was decided at the state level and it has to accept the regulation. But you can talk to the lecturers so that they upload all missing materials before December 2016, before it may be too late.
The AStA is already seeking contact with the AStAen of other colleges and universities in order to trigger a state, rather nationwide, reaction.
However, we need your help for this! Find out more from the