Ministry of Culture

In Germany, the Ministry of Culture is traditionally the highest administrative authority of a federal state for the school and education sector - and in some cases also for universities and cultural affairs. The root word Kultus (from Latin cultus ) originally stands for religious matters that were under state supervision before the separation of state and church and were usually combined with the school system in a ministry. (For Austria see Kk Ministry of Cultus and Education .)

The Prussian Ministry of Spiritual, Educational and Medical Affairs was founded in 1817 as the first ministry of this kind in Germany . The other larger member states of the German Confederation (Austria, Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg) also had their own ministries of culture, while their tasks in the smaller states were mostly carried out by departments of the respective “State Ministry”. In the time of National Socialism , the areas of education and science were centrally controlled from 1934 onwards by the Reich Ministry for Science, Education and National Education , which was often referred to in abbreviated form as the Reich Ministry of Education (REM); the term Reich Ministry of Culture, however, was not common. In 1949, the renewed Basic Law , the cultural sovereignty of the country and thus had the countries again the responsibility in the school and university policy.

Today, contrary to its actual meaning , the term cult is often used and understood as a synonym for education (especially school system, partly also university system). Officially, the term Ministry of Culture is only used in about a third of all federal states (Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, Lower Saxony and Saxony); In these countries, the country's relations with the churches and religious communities continue to be part of the Ministry of Culture and are looked after in the corresponding organizational units. In the other states - as well as in the federal government since 1969 - the department responsible for education is usually referred to as the Ministry of Education . Often, due to their increased scope, the areas of responsibility are also divided between several ministries with changing names. In the public consciousness, the term culture ministry is therefore primarily in the form of the culture ministers' conference .

See also : List of the incumbent German state ministers for education, science and culture

Situation in other countries

Austria

In Austria , unlike in Germany, cultural affairs are traditionally a state or federal task and have been taken care of by the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Culture and Education (until 1903, Kultus was written as Cultus). From 1918 onwards, the term cult was no longer included in the ministry name in republican Austria. Today the relevant department bears the name of the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research . At times, there were separate ministries for science and art affairs in the past , and the sports policy portfolio has also gone its own way since Franz Vranitzky and was now part of the Ministry of Defense .

Switzerland

In Switzerland , as in Germany, the education system is essentially located at the level of the cantons ; however, the term Ministry of Culture is unknown. The German ministries of education correspond to authorities that are called Education Directorate , Education Department, Education Directorate or Education Department depending on the canton ( Directorate and Department are the names for "Ministry" in Switzerland).

The Swiss Conference of Cantonal Education Directors (EDK) and the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) in the business area of ​​the Federal Department of Economics, Education and Research provide coordination at federal level .

See also : List of cantonal education departments in Switzerland

Denmark

Denmark founded the Ministeriet for Kirke- og Undervisningsvæsenet (Ministry of Churches and Education) in 1848 , also known as the Kultusministeriet . In 1916, its two departments were split up as independent ministries - Kirkeministeriet and Undervisningsministeriet (since 2015 Ministeriet for Børn, Undervisning og Ligestilling ) - and thus the Kultusministeriet was abolished.

Web links

Wiktionary: Ministry of Culture  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ministry of Culture in Meyer's Large Conversation Lexicon, Leipzig 1907.
2. ↑ Kultusministeriet 1848-1916. (No longer available online.) In: sekr.uvm.dk. Archived from the original on December 16, 2008 ; Retrieved January 1, 2016 (Danish). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ Undervisningsministeriet. In: The Danske store. Gyldendal, accessed January 1, 2016 (Danish).