The study programs to be reformed include the natural sciences, agricultural sciences and medicine (biology, biotechnology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, neuroscience, pharmacy, toxicology, human medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, medical technology, psychology, nutritional sciences, agricultural sciences, etc.). As the needs in the respective subjects are very different, these could be elective or compulsory subjects with existing methods and method development, individual modules or entire Bachelor's and Master's degree courses, according to the appeal.

The student community would like to see this modernization, as students are very interested in this field and industry is also increasingly using the new animal-free approaches. Another area that is becoming increasingly important is patient-based research. It is not only animal suffering, but also the transferability of research results that has led to this demand for animal-free methods according to the report. However, the big push for innovation, particularly in the further development of existing methods and the development of completely new methods, is being held back by the lock-in effect of a teaching and research system that has been based on animal experiments for decades.

At the moment, NAMs are only occasionally taught at Master's or doctoral level, if at all. This means that methods that promote animal consumption continue to be taught. In addition, there are bureaucratic hurdles in the recognition/validation of methods, preconceptions in scientific publication practice and in financial research funding, which severely restricts the freedom of science, research and teaching as well as career choices in the field of NAMs and puts Germany at a disadvantage as a university location, the students criticize. This could be achieved by reducing the disadvantageous hurdles, large-scale support programs (also in basic research) and 1R (replacement) instead of 3R centers.

Further information:
https://www.fzs.de/2025/05/26/new-approach-methodologies-in-die-hochschullehre/