Humboldtian values in a changing world: staff and students in German universities

Abstract

The globalisation of higher education implies the application of a neo‐liberal market forces model based on competition and choice. This is happening in Germany by gradual stages, and is often, but not necessarily correctly, assumed to be antagonistic to the Humboldtian model that underlies the classical German university tradition. This paper reports a survey which showed that staff and student role relationships were permeated by paradoxes and mutual incomprehension, and that the goodwill, dedication and respect of the professors towards their students were being wasted due to deficits in organisation and structure. Freedom, an integral part of the Humboldtian model, was much more beneficial to the staff than to the students, many of whom called instead for better guidance and course structure. The professors were sceptical about some features of re‐structuring such as more executive leadership on the part of their management, and did not want their institutions to be run like enterprises—though they did want them to have more autonomy. About one third were willing to accept a diminution in state power. The system seems at a stage where the advantages of the Humboldtian model are being ‘delivered’ only incompletely, and the potential of a market model has not yet been fully realised. Humboldt was himself an intellectual predecessor of neo‐liberalism, and would not have been opposed to the notion of a reduction in state power, even though this runs counter to the present ‘German model’.

Notes

School of Education, University of Ulster, Cromore Road, Coleraine, BT52 1SA.Email: [email protected]

Humboldt actually withdrew from his duties five months before the University opened, but he is said to have ‘imposed a unity of purpose that compelled a successful outcome’ (Fallon, 1980, pp. 13–14).

Hochschulrahmengesetz (HRG): Fifth Law for the Amendment of the HRG, passed by the Bundestag on 9.11.2001; Entwurf eines Gesetzes zur Reform der Professorenbesoldung (Professorenbesoldungsgesetz – ProfBesReformG), 14^th period of legislature of the Bundesrat.

The word Magister will be retained in the English‐language text because there is also a Master's which is different from the Magister in that it is preceded by a BA. The Magister does not have two phases like BA/MA.

The staff–student ratio (SSR) is complicated to calculate, because some universities base it only upon professors, whereas others include the academic assistants who also help out with teaching. Some universities only include the students who are still within the ‘normal period of study’ (Regelstudienzeit), thereby making the SSR smaller, whilst others include all students currently pursuing their studies. In the present study, a number of universities reported SSRs of 1:55.

The percentages reach 100 when a small non‐response rate of 2.6 is taken into account for this question.

This does not come altogether as a surprise because the Carnegie Study of the International Academic Profession also found that the percentage of staff preferring teaching over other activities was higher amongst German professors than amongst British, Swedish or Dutch equivalents (Enders & Teichler, 1996).

Almost half of the students supported oral examinations.

Fohrbeck (2000) writing in Germany about British higher education notes that about the same is spent per student in the UK as in his home country, but there is double the personnel because the British pay their academic staff half as much!

In all fairness, it is important to note that attempts to improve teaching are generally bearing fruit in the Federal Republic, and the outlook of the academics is changing (BMBF, 1999).

The federal structure was of course part of the Allies' plan after World War Two to make it difficult for a dictator to take over the whole country; it was their deliberate intention to impede the imposition of centralist policies.