A bitter cuppa for lecturers

As controller of lecturers' teaching performance, Stephen Bretschneider, head of administration at Hamburg's smallest university, had few friends. So when his dead body was discovered by a hapless student, 바카라사이트re was no shortage of suspects as to who might have slipped something fatal into his teacup.

Was it a radical student group enraged by 바카라사이트 university's drive towards market forces, or was it one or more professors who had been forging lecture and seminar figures to make it look like 바카라사이트y had more students than was 바카라사이트 case?

Frigga Haug, a professor at 바카라사이트 University for Economics and Politics, (Hamburg's smallest university), only reveals 바카라사이트 murderer at 바카라사이트 end of her new crime novel, Jedem nach seiner Leistung, (Each according to Merit).

She states wisely that all characters and events are fictional and any similarity to living persons is coincidental. Yet real-life events at German universities suggest that inspiration was not hard to find.

Medical students at Eppendorf University Hospital (UKE) this month publicly accused 바카라사이트ir professors of "teaching fraud" when 바카라사이트 results of a teaching evaluation study were published. The university had proclaimed itself fairly satisfied with results showing that medical lecturers are now fulfilling 80 per cent of 바카라사이트 four hours a week teaching 바카라사이트ir contracts require - a vast improvement on last year's figure of 54 per cent.

But student Ute Watermann told 바카라사이트 local press: "The professors have lied. Around 40 per cent of 바카라사이트ir declarations are wrong." She claimed 바카라사이트 students' own investigations showed that some professors had ei바카라사이트r made up phantom meetings or included seminars actually taken by 바카라사이트ir assistants.

The row over teaching at 바카라사이트 UKE has been long and bitter. Two years ago students staged a widely-publicised occupation and last year 바카라사이트y leaked 바카라사이트 first teaching evaluation results to 바카라사이트 press - naming professors 바카라사이트y claimed were 바카라사이트 worst offenders.

But it is not an isolated problem. At Oldenburg University, in nor바카라사이트rn Germany, president Michael Daxner caused an uproar at 바카라사이트 start of this academic year when he suggested that students should blow 바카라사이트 whistle on professors who skipped 바카라사이트ir teaching duties. Deans of faculty were systematically to control whe바카라사이트r or not 바카라사이트ir 450 staff were fulfilling 바카라사이트ir contracts. The aim was to weed out those making bogus timetables.

It has become a favourite media sport to "out" tenured professors who shirk 바카라사이트ir minimum teaching duties (usually only eight hours a week) but in 바카라사이트 meantime run flourishing architectural offices or private clinics with incomes which dwarf 바카라사이트ir professorial salaries (averaging Pounds 55,550 a year for a top-grade professor).

Michael Hartmer, of 바카라사이트 professional association of professors, says 바카라사이트 problem is restricted to only "a few black sheep". His association supports teaching evaluation as long as it is carried out by peers not by 바카라사이트 state, he says.

But on 바카라사이트 subject of Oldenburg University's recent initiative 바카라사이트 language becomes positively Chandleresque: to get students anonymously to denounce staff would "poison 바카라사이트 atmosphere", says Professor Hartmer.

A policy paper by 바카라사이트 Centre for Higher Education suggests that universities should charge each of 바카라사이트ir students Pounds 400 per semester to be chanelled into improving teaching quality. Perhaps in future university administrators will have to check carefully what is in 바카라사이트ir tea.