1. Globalisation: What Issues are at Stake for Universities?
Université Laval, Québec Canada
Germany: Through Reform and European Compatibility to
Internationalization
Stefan Hormuth
President Justus Liebig University (Giessen)
Vice president for International Affairs (HRK)
19 September 2002
(Note: The following document includes text from the National Report on the Bologna
process in Germany as provided by KMK; HRK and BMBF, April 2002)
State of the German university system
The German university system is a federal one. Universities are governed by the laws
of the sixteen different states of the federal republic of Germany, and universities are financed
by the different states. This provides for variety in the legal and financial conditions under
which universities work. However, the federal government provides a general law as a
framework under which state laws are developed, and a certain degree of jointly financed
tasks, such as major funding for construction and scientific equipment. Also, research
funding through the German science foundation is jointly financed.
During the last few years, German universities have been in a process of tremendous
change. Most state laws have fundamentally changed the governing structures of universities
as well as the relationship between university and state. Whereas before, universities were
closely regulated by the state, most states now grant their universities a much higher degree of
autonomy in decisions regarding personnel, planning and finances. Before, curricula and
degrees awarded by German universities had to be approved by the state, now a system of
accreditation is being established, which I will elaborate below. The internal governing
structures of universities have been streamlined to allow for faster decision-making
procedures that before were subject to processes involving various committees representing
the different groups of the university: faculty, staff and students alike. By many this process,
however, is also criticized as reducing the democratic decision-making and the involvement
of the university as a whole. Many states have introduced Boards of Trustees, and have
transferred to them powers that before were placed with the state. Both within the university,
and in the relationship between state and university, output oriented systems of money
allocation consider the number of students served as well as success in teaching and research
as a basis for financing.
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2. Globalisation: What Issues are at Stake for Universities?
Université Laval, Québec Canada
In a similar way, the new federal framework law establishes new career paths for
professors and new ways of remuneration. Whereas before, the career path to a professorship
went through the so-called “habilitation”, an additional degree about six years past the
dissertation, and usually offered a permanent position only at an age well beyond forty years,
the introduction of the new position of “Junior professor”, somewhat comparable to that of an
Assistant Professor, is supposed to allow for earlier independence and responsibility in
teaching and research. Currently, the salary for German university professors is mainly
determined by their level of appointment as associate or full professor and is within these
levels only a function of years since the appointment. This was sometimes considered
ironically the “ultimate academic freedom”. In the future, salaries of professors in Germany,
too, will be performance-based.
Degree structure
While most of these changes may, from the outside, be considered to be long overdue
for a competitive university system, one of the internationally most visible changes occurs
currently in the structure of degrees awarded. In Germany, and in some neighboring
countries, the first degree awarded is still the Diploma or integrated Master’s degree, a
graduate degree taking a minimum of five years at the university level. Within this degree
structure, graduation with an undergraduate degree at the Bachelor level is not possible.
Degrees below the Diploma or Master level are not awarded by universities, but only by
“Fachhochschulen” (comparable to polytechnics) or “Universities of Applied Science”, as
they are now called somewhat euphemistically. As a result, German graduates are well
trained, but universities suffer from a relatively high level of dropout rates and graduates are
on the average older than their peers in other countries. In addition, the German degree
structure is internationally not compatible, making it difficult for foreign students to enter a
German degree program, and for German students to get credit at foreign institutions for work
equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree. In order to change this, a major change in the degree
structure is underway to introduce internationally compatible Bachelor’s and Masters’
degrees. This process, however, cannot be seen anymore strictly from a national, German,
perspective, but I have to change to the European level.
This change comes about because of the so-called Bologna declaration, a declaration
signed by European ministers of higher education in Bologna in 1999.
The Bologna Process
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3. Globalisation: What Issues are at Stake for Universities?
Université Laval, Québec Canada
On 19 June 1999, 29 European Ministers in charge of higher education signed in
Bologna the Declaration on establishing the European Area of higher education by 2010 and
promoting the European System of higher education worldwide. The Ministers affirmed in the
Bologna Declaration their intention to:
• adopt a system of easily readable and comparable degrees
• adopt a system with two main cycles (undergraduate/graduate)
• establish a system of credits (such as ECTS)
• promote mobility by overcoming obstacles
• promote European co-operation in quality assurance
• promote European dimensions in higher education
Convinced that the establishment of the European area of higher education requires constant
support, supervision and adaptation to the continuously evolving needs, the Ministers decided
to meet again two years later in Prague in order to assess the progress achieved and the new
steps to be taken.
Two years after signing the Bologna Declaration, the Ministers in charge of higher education
of - by now - 33 European countries met on 19 May 2001 in Prague to follow up the Bologna
Process and to set directions and priorities for the coming years.
In the Prague Communiqué the Ministers
• reaffirmed their commitment to the objectives of the Bologna Declaration
• appreciated the active involvement of the European University Association (EUA) and
the National Unions of Students in Europe (ESIB)
• took note of the constructive assistance of the European Commission
• made comments on the further process with regard to the different objectives of the
Bologna Declaration
• emphasized as important elements of the European Higher Education Area:
• lifelong learning
• involvement of students
• enhancing the attractiveness and competitiveness of the European Higher
Education Area to other parts of the world (including the aspect of
transnational education)
The Ministers decided that the next follow-up meeting for the Bologna process should take
place in 2003 in Berlin to review progress and to set directions and priorities for the next
stages of the process to the European Higher Education Area. Currently, the German
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4. Globalisation: What Issues are at Stake for Universities?
Université Laval, Québec Canada
Ministry of Education and Research, The German Rectors’ Conference, and the German
Academic Exchange Service are preparing for the Berlin conference.
These goals, to be completed by the end of this decade, have earned widespread
support in most European states. A Europe-wide debate has been going on since 1999,
involving governments, university organizations on the European level – mainly the newly
founded European University Association – and on the national level, as well as student
organizations. These debates have yielded a strong consensus on the main goals:
- mobility
- employability
- compatibility
- the importance on life-long learning
- attractiveness/competitiveness of European universities worldwide
Major changes are presently being undertaken in European university education:
- the introduction of a European Credit transfer system (ECTS), to allow for easy transfer of
credits within Europe
- the introduction of a Diploma Supplement, containing information about the curricula,
degree structure and actual work done
- the introduction of degrees equivalent to Bachelor and Masters degrees (also mostly
called this way) in many different countries
- the introduction of structures for quality assurance and accreditation
Globalization
The Europe-wide process resulting from the Bologna declaration is by no means
restricted in its effects to Europe. Rather, the process is also meant and actually results in the
opening of European higher education to the whole world. Comparable degree structures,
clear information as provided by ECTS and the diploma supplement, and universally accepted
and accredited standards for higher education allow for the promotion of the attractiveness of
European higher education outside of Europe.
The situation in Germany
The objectives of the Bologna Declaration correspond to the goals which the Federal
Government and the Länder developed in recent years for modernizing higher education in
Germany and enhancing the country's international attractiveness.
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5. Globalisation: What Issues are at Stake for Universities?
Université Laval, Québec Canada
In Germany, the Federal Government and the Länder pointed out that the introduction
of the new graduation system with Bachelor's and Master's degrees must be accompanied by
measures which promote acceptance of these degrees by industry and society and open up to
graduates new opportunities on the labor market. In addition the Länder and the universities in
Germany make joint efforts to develop the traditional degree system courses further so that
they fit in more easily with international structures.
Relevant provisions have been included in all higher education acts of the Länder.
This corresponds to the objective of the Bologna Declaration that a system based on two main
cycles, namely undergraduate and graduate studies, should be adopted. The Framework Act
for Higher Education (HRG) stipulates in accordance with the Bologna Declaration that the
standard period of undergraduate study shall be between three and four years.
In the 2002 summer semester, 544 Bachelor courses and 367 Master courses have
been offered by higher education institutions in Germany. According to official statistics, a
total of 18,945 students were enrolled on the new study courses in the 2000/2001 winter
semester, 12,409 of them in Bachelor courses and 6,536 in Master courses. This is still a
rather modest number but we have to bear in mind that many new course offerings have not
yet been fully developed. 11,734 students of the total of 18,945 were in their first semester in
the course on which they were enrolled. It is to be expected that the dynamic development in
the area of Bachelor and Master courses will continue and that the number of students in these
study programs will markedly increase in the coming years.
The international orientation of the introduction of the new graduation system was
supported by specific programs. Under these funding programs, support is currently provided
for about 100 internationally oriented study courses in Germany.
In January 2000, the German Science Council issued a recommendation concerning
the introduction of a new study and degree structure (Bachelor/Master) in Germany. The new
degrees are also given much attention in the recent recommendations of the Science Council
concerning the development of universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen). The
Science Council recommends that the new graduation system should be introduced at
Fachhochschulen in a consistent approach.
The Standing Conference of State Ministers of Higher Education (KMK) advocated
that the European Credit Transfer System should serve as a model for the credit system to be
introduced in Germany. A survey conducted by the DAAD in December 2000 revealed that,
in the academic year 2000/2001, a total of 185 German institutions of higher education,
including 93 Fachhochschulen, were introducing or applying ECTS in some 1,340 areas - not
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6. Globalisation: What Issues are at Stake for Universities?
Université Laval, Québec Canada
only to Bachelor/Bakkalaureus and Master/Magister courses but also to traditional study
courses.
With a view to strengthening the international dimension, legal conditions (including
work permits) to be fulfilled by foreigners wishing to study and do research in Germany were
improved in 1998 already. The many and diverse efforts made by the Federal Government,
the Länder and the institutions of higher education have already resulted in substantial
improvements for foreign students and researchers at numerous higher education institutions.
No tuition fees are charged in Germany for studies leading to a degree qualifying for a
profession; this may even be a second degree earned in a two-cycle program. This principle
also applies to foreign students. The individual states and the institutions of higher education
are making great efforts to improve social and subject-related support for foreign students at
German universities.
An inter-institutional system of quality assurance is emerging in the Federal Republic
of Germany, supplementing quality management by individual institutions. Transnational
initiatives and collaborations of universities and evaluation centers have been established or
will shortly start work to ensure transnational evaluation In connection with the introduction
of the new graduation system, the KMK and the HRK established an accreditation system
including a national German Accreditation Council for the launch of the new
Bachelor/Bakkalaureus and Master/Magister courses. The aim of accreditation is to ensure
minimum standards with regard to study contents and to assess the professional relevance of
the degrees awarded. The accreditation procedure is mainly implemented by different regional
agencies and agencies focusing on specific fields.
The European dimension with regard to curriculum development, cooperation between
institutions, mobility schemes and integrated programs of study, training and research is taken
into account by German universities in numerous ways. Cooperation between German and
foreign institutions of higher education within the framework of contractually agreed
partnerships is gaining increasing importance. In addition to traditional forms of university
cooperation, increasingly complex networks of cooperation between institutions in several
countries are emerging; some of these networks are of a regional nature or have developed
from a special scientific focus of the institutions participating.
From Prague to Berlin
The follow-up conference to Bologna, that took place in Prague in Prague in May
2001, expanded the number of participants in the process, specified the goals and developed
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7. Globalisation: What Issues are at Stake for Universities?
Université Laval, Québec Canada
working structures which enable further progress to be made with the process. The aim is to
establish a European Higher Education Area. The Berlin Conference will be a milestone on
this way.
The Bologna process is characterized by open working structures which enable a great
variety of ideas and people to be included in the process. Only if we succeed in keeping this
process open and avoiding firmly established forms of organization with restrictive rules and
regulations can the Bologna process be effective. The European Higher Education Area will
develop from a common basic understanding of training structures in Europe. It is based on
the common views of participants, on mutual trust and on tolerance towards the diversity
which is characteristic of Europe rather than on laws, regulations and procedures.
The objectives of the Bologna process can be achieved only if comparable quality
standards apply to higher education throughout Europe. Developing a reliable quality
assurance system is therefore necessary for promoting mobility within Europe and for
enhancing the attractiveness of European higher education institutions to non-Europeans. This
does, of course, not mean harmonizing higher education in Europe and introducing
standardized curricula for all universities in Europe. This would be incompatible with
European traditions and would call into question the diversity, which is one of Europe's assets
in the higher education sector. The goal is not to harmonize systems but to ensure
equivalence.
As I stated at the outset, changes in the German university system are at the same time
part of a grander Europe-wide reform which in turn should open European universities
worldwide. Therefore, I invite you to follow the further development of the European Higher
Education Area and recommend the official website which has been created for the Berlin
Conference under www.bologna-berlin2003.de.
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