Higher education reform

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As higher education reform a major redesign of existing structures and contents is within the university system referred. It was and is mostly a reaction to social changes and the associated demands on science, universities and teaching. These include, for example, demographic developments, socio-economic structural change in the employment sectors, technological progress and the development of international competition. Reforms at other levels of the education system (such as school reform ) can also trigger higher education reform . With the creation of a European higher education area initiated by the Bologna process , a transnational higher education reform aimed at Europe-wide harmonization of study programs and degrees as well as international student mobility is taking place.

Planning and implementation of higher education reforms are divided between a large number of actors. They are stimulated and supported by numerous institutions, experts and interest groups: In Germany, the relevant coordination between the federal and state governments is primarily the responsibility of those involved in higher education policy. The actual implementation takes place above all at the level of the education ministries of the federal states mainly responsible for education policy within the federal framework of the Federal Republic of Germany. The higher education framework law and the higher education laws of the federal states provide the legal basis for this .

Areas

The objectives and content of higher education reforms can affect one or more of the following areas:

  • Access to or quality and structure of studies, teaching and research (examples: right to choose, reform of the study structure and Bologna process , introduction of part-time studies , virtual teaching);
  • Participation and autonomy both within institutions and between universities and political bodies (example: reform of organizational and control models);
  • College funding; Student finance; tuition fee
  • Changes in the structure of the academic and administrative staff (examples: introduction of the junior professorship , performance-related remuneration elements for professors ' salaries);
  • Gender equality work (examples: promotion of female scientists and students, appointments to the appointment committees , family-friendly university, Girls' Days );
  • Adaptation of administrative and (information and communication) technical infrastructures for optimal implementation of the reform measures.

As a result, the term university reform usually encompasses various measures, some of which are independent of one another.

With the increasing internationalization of higher education (and not just since the beginning of the Bologna Process in 1999), national higher education reforms are increasingly geared towards international standards and coordinated supranationally. One key word here is the sought-after and often questioned homogenization of the European higher education area.

University reforms in Germany since 1945

Early and 1950s: Opposing developments in FRG and GDR

  • In the first decades after 1949, the Federal Republic was shaped more by the return to the educational traditions of the Weimar Republic and less by far-reaching reforms in the (higher) education system.
  • Meanwhile, in the Soviet occupation zone, the denazification of colleges and universities and the abolition of the civil education privilege (additional faculties for workers and farmers) took place immediately after 1945. With the founding of the GDR in 1949, a reorientation in the sense of ideological and political harmony with the Soviet Union was gradually carried out. Resolutions of the SED u. a. on the higher education system of January 1951 became the starting point for the introduction of Stalinist structures. Numerous students and scientists opposed the gradual reorganization of the universities based on the model of Soviet pedagogy. a. through emigration and flight to the West.

High phase of reform and German-German specifics

Federal Republic of Germany

  • The phase between 1965 and 1973 is considered to be one of the most important reform periods both in terms of education policy and the higher education system.
  • Decisive for their development in the Federal Republic were not least the demands of the public and the criticism by the student movement . A new prioritization of education in line with demographic developments, high government spending in (education and) higher education and the establishment of universities are some of the characteristic factors.
In the 1960s, the poor state of the education system was discussed by critics such as Georg Picht .
In the course of the worldwide student movement ( 68 ), students in Germany, France ( May riots ) and the USA ( Free Speech Movement ) fight for an opening and democratization of universities.
The West German Rectors' Conference created under the January 6, 1968 documents on higher education reform, the so-called. Godesberger statement with recommendations to licensing restrictions , the position of research assistant to collaborative research and the "qualitative representation" in the bodies of universities.
The university reform in Germany of 1977 aimed at a comprehensive equality of all population groups with regard to educational opportunities ( humanistic educational ideal).
But new knowledge from science and research should also be integrated more strongly (e.g. new mathematics ). The course should be free of charge, also according to UN agreements.
Education is seen as a great good for society, not just in terms of economic success.

German Democratic Republic

In the Soviet zone of occupation / GDR, on the other hand, the reform process was centrally managed and controlled; there were three university reforms:

The first university reform included the changes in the reopening of universities and colleges after 1945 on the territory of the Soviet occupation zone. In particular, denazification was carried out and the civil education privilege was broken (introduction of the workers and farmers faculties ).

The second university reform was carried out in 1951/52 and centralized control of the higher education system in the GDR was introduced. The State Secretariat for Higher Education and Technical Education was responsible for the management and coordination of the entire higher education sector. There were uniform and binding study and examination plans for all fields of study with a precise regulation of the course.

The third higher education reform should improve the effectiveness of research and training as well as create a stronger link between universities and business. Almost uniform structures have been introduced at all colleges and universities throughout the GDR since the summer of 1968 (there were mainly deviations in the medical field at the universities). In the course of this higher education reform, the existing institute structures were completely dissolved and sections were introduced as larger units (roughly comparable to the US departmental structures). The aim here was to achieve greater structural centralization in higher education. For this purpose, in addition to the curriculum, the doctoral regulations were also changed ( doctorate A and doctorate B ) and a new regulation on the appointment of university teachers was introduced ( professors , university lecturers ).

The increasing number of students in the Federal Republic of Germany contrasted with the throttling of university access in favor of skilled worker training . Here, in particular, the resolution (of April 3, 1969) on the continuation of the third university reform and the development of the higher education system until 1975 brought about the reorganization of the internal structures of the universities (sections) and of the course.

Bologna process

At the beginning of the 21st century, higher education reforms are taking place at the European level and beyond. The reason is the desired creation of a common European higher education area, which is intended to promote international mobility of students and the transnational recognition of degrees through harmonization or the creation of a convergence of framework conditions.

The focus of the reform discourse are in the age of globalization and location - competition on the one hand the market-oriented realignment of programs and degrees as well as issues of university funding ( tuition fees and third-party funds raising); on the other hand, it is about the promotion of top universities as well as the university autonomy and the participation of the groups involved in university life in the field of tension of social influence.

Background, decisive factors and catchwords on university reforms

The adaptation to new conditions and the challenges of the times require new concepts, so that the restructuring that has been carried out is often associated with a change and a break with university-political traditions. In the public discourse, the building of consensus on university policy and decision-making processes are to a large extent accompanied by controversial and rarely value-neutral buzzwords. Beyond the real context conditions, it is often a matter of conflicting interests of the various actors and the compatibility of continuity and innovation in the development of the German (and therefore also the European) higher education system. Incidentally, the majority of the factors and buzzwords that appear up-to-date today have already been cited and discussed controversially over the decades; their specific contents and characteristics, their respective supporters or opponents, however, mean new starting points, consequences and perspectives. Therefore, the attempt was made to create the list not purely chronologically, but according to popularity and decreasing frequency of use within the total period.

  • Demographic change and inequality of opportunity
  • The crisis of the German university
  • Modernizing and increasing efficiency in science, research and teaching
  • International mobility and visibility; Internationalization strategies
  • Lack of graduates according to labor market demand; Skilled workers shortage
  • academic mobility and flexibility, talent drain
  • University as a company and service provider, management-oriented control concepts
  • Profiling, differentiation, convergence (Education Report 2006)
  • Increase in studyability and so-called " employability "

University Framework Act

Higher Education Framework Act (HRG) in the version published on January 19, 1999 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 18 ), last amended by Article 2 of the law of April 12, 2007 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 506 ): Ҥ8 Study Reform: Die Universities have the constant task, in cooperation with the responsible government bodies, to review and further develop the content and forms of studies with regard to developments in science and art, the needs of professional practice and the necessary changes in the professional world. "

Institutions and actors involved in higher education reforms

Further context

Wilhelm von Humboldt stands for a changed concept of education in the Enlightenment .

The progressive education aims at reforming older pedagogical principles.

See also

literature

  • Oskar Anweiler , Hans-Jürgen Fuchs, Martina Dorner, Eberhard Petermann (eds.): Education policy in Germany 1945–1990. A historical-comparative source volume. Federal Agency for Civic Education. Bonn 1992.
  • Selling out philosophy. The consequences of higher education reform. No. 44 of the journal Contradiction. Contradiction, Munich 2006.
  • Christine Burtscheidt: Humboldt's false heirs. A balance sheet of the German higher education reform. Campus, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-593-39272-1 .
  • Frauke Gützkow, Gunter Quaißer (Ed.): Yearbook University design 2007/2008: Food for thought in a federalized university landscape. Bielefeld 2008, ISBN 978-3-937026-58-9 .
  • Richard Münch : Academic capitalism, on the political economy of university reform. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2011, ISBN 978-3-518-12633-2 .
  • George Turner , college between imagination and reality. On the history of the university reform in the last third of the 20th century. Berlin 2001
  • George Turner: University Reforms. A never-ending story since the 1950s . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2-18. ISBN 978-3-428-15424-1 .

Web links

Wiktionary: University reform  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations