The German University System
Germany’s educational system is being hampered by it’s inability to provide top-notch universities. The Times Higher Education Supplement recently published it’s list of the top 50 universities in the world. The top ranked German institution was Heidelberg University, which was ranked 47th.
Gerhard Schroeder came out with a program designed to institute the development of elite universities in Germany. He seemed to want various existing universities to compete with each other, to begin the process of developing a competitive edge. Of course this set off many alarms with the media and within Schroeder’s SPD. Per a Deutsche Welle story:
Most point out that many German universities are already in shambles owing to a dire lack of funds, overcrowding in lecture halls and poorly equipped libraries and laboratories and that an elite university would only exacerbate the problems. Others point out there’s no tradition in Germany of foundations and endowments such as those that fund American elite universities. The German Research Foundation (DFG) has calculated that at least a €100 million would be needed every year to bring a part of German universities up to top-notch international standards, an impossible feat considering Germany’s poorly-performing economy.
The various student groups also have predictably set up many protests against the institution of even modest tuition fees at university. Students in Berlin actually went on strike to protest possible tuition fees. This is not something likely to happen when the students are paying for the ability to learn at a university. Why does this seem to only happen when a free studies are threatened?
Are Germans in general not willing to invest in their personal futures? It has long been suggested that the German culture is very reluctant to take on debt. DW also reported:
Judith Graff, a fourth year student at the University of Cologne, sees the loan issue from a practical standpoint. Sure, her studies have been prolonged by the fact that she has to work 20 hours a week to make ends meet -- and that's without having had to pay any tuition fees. But she would rather not finish school in debt.
"Everyone knows right now there are no jobs in Germany. How would you pay the loan back?" Graff asked. "If people come out of school with debt then they would hesitate to start a family ... it's a bad cycle.
Getting back to the overall university rankings…The United States, with all of its capitalistic “abuse” of higher education, and all of its outlandish tuition fees absolutely dominates the Times’ top university list. With the top four institutions of higher learning, and seven out of the top ten, the facts are pretty clear that market-based competition in general produces better results. Weather this is based on higher pay for better professors, or better facilities, or simply attracting the best students, really doesn’t matter because all of these market-driven competitive forces clearly produce results. 
The conservatives in Germany, who now control 9 of the 16 state governments are more likely to support fee based tuition at the university level. Hopefully the population will come to understand that anything worthwhile requires sacrifice, and is not merely a “hand-out” to be expected and taken for granted.
posted by Kuch at 10:47 PM
3 Comments:
The issues you mention come out of two different camps on the political spectrum. The concept of elite-schools is an idea of the SPD. It considers additional funding to support certain universities to build on to their strength in certain areas. Of course, with the budget situation being as bad as it is, the funding that is needed for this project is hard to find. I do not know if the idea/ concept is positive/ good. I have some concerns there. Mainly I think that the established universities in the West would get the elite status more than universities in the East. Therefore it would be bad development strategy for the East West problem. More students would leave the East, research centers would be build in other, possibily economically better off regions, while having research centers would benefit the East a bit more. But, I also acknowledge, I do not know too much about the debate to really make a call on this. This is just my impression on the matter.
The idea of tuition is an idea opposed by the SPD and supported by the opposition, the CDU. There is however, quite a bit wrong with the idea, if you ask me.
First of all, my understanding is, that you'd pay the tuition to the state where you study in. Seeing this makes me wonder ... huh? How can I be sure that it get's to the university then and is not used to fix the state budgets? Some others argue, that paying tuition would not increase the funding for the university. Even if tuition was given to the universities, it is said that the state would cut back its funding for the universities. So the universities wouldn't in the end have more funding, the students would pay tuition, but not necessarily have a better education from it. But they'd be in debt. What for?
The other thing is that some have argued that we do not have the necessary loan system. most standard banks would not give a student a loan to finance studies. So the state would have to develop a concept for the distribution of loans and a concept for payment methods once studies are finished. This is, at this point of time not in place yet. However, some states (and with the education system being structured as it is, this is possible, because education is responsibility of the state, not the federal government) already plan to implement tuition fees (mainly CDU governed laender). I wish they wouldn't unless a better concept was found than the one that is currently proposed.
I personally am not totally against tuition. Having studied in the US for 6 years I know what tuition could make possibile. But, it would be imperative that the universities have the autonomy to use the tution for their improvement, and that the tuition improves the financial situation of the universities.
Wow, I did not realize that the tuition would be paid to the state government, and not the individual universities. I agree that this is a very bad idea. It sounds more like tax than tuition in this regard, with very little accountability.
I know two people who are currently in "Facchochschule" in Western Germany. I will try to see what they think of this.
The risk of state cuts to the universities (even if tuition were paid directly) brings up a question of that delicate balance between private and public. State universities in the US certainly get public funds, but the option of raising tuition is always possible. Then, it is up to the institution to provide an education that is "worth" whatever amount of tuition is neccessary.
Wow, I did not realize that the tuition would be paid to the state government, and not the individual universities.
This is how I understood it, because the state, not the university would set the rate of tuition. so it is indeed more like a tax.
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