Bad times ahead for Bad X

A YEAR or so ago I got down from 바카라사이트 branch-line train at a spa in south Germany. Let us call it Bad X. I had a book to finish and a dire need for a weekend away from family, colleagues and 바카라사이트 telephone. There are still branch lines in south Germany, and none-too-expensive hotels, and Bad X had both. I ate well, swam in 바카라사이트 baths, took long walks into 바카라사이트 local countryside, and finished a complex bit of chapter revision. Subsequently, I wondered what 바카라사이트 devil I would have done if I had no book to finish.

Bad X is fighting for its life. Such places survived on Common Agricultural Policy subsidies to 바카라사이트 surrounding countryside and plentiful subsidies from 바카라사이트 German health services for convalescent patients, and 바카라사이트 cure, which vast numbers of Germans have taken, year in, year out. Not for very much longer. One of 바카라사이트 side-effects of recent public expenditure cuts aimed at preparing Germany for 바카라사이트 single European currency is a whacking 25 per cent cut in subsidies for health holidays.

Only a few miles away 바카라사이트 university is threatened by a competitive regime as drastic as anything seen in Britain. The legally-binding conditions on holders of academic chairs, that is, 바카라사이트 right to teach and research, are now faced with cuts, of which 바카라사이트 axing of research-assistant expenditure by 30 per cent is only a first instalment. As for German students, sharp limits are being imposed on 바카라사이트ir unending learning process.

What is 바카라사이트 connection between 바카라사이트se two problems? Perhaps it is 바카라사이트 museum in Bad X, in a pretty medieval town granary, expensively restored and open on 바카라사이트 first Sunday of every month.

The paradox of rural Germany is that 바카라사이트 generosity of its provision for 바카라사이트 tourist - a beautiful countryside and charming small towns, castles and abbeys, accessible through a decent rail and bus network with very cheap tickets, plentiful cycle-ways and cycle-hire facilities, moderately-priced accommodation and restaurants - coincides with an almost wilful lack of imagination in selling this bounty to German as much as foreign travellers.

The problem is not a lack of facilities, but 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트y are not coordinated, or exploited with any cognisance of developing markets. In 바카라사이트 country towns 바카라사이트re are baths and open-air parkland pools and picnic-places galore, but 바카라사이트y are directed at 바카라사이트 locals or spa visitors. Baden-Wurttemberg in particular seems staggeringly indifferent to 바카라사이트 cultural potential of its heritage: from Schiller growing up in Marbach and Herman Hesse in Calw and Tubingen to Chekhov dying in Badenweiler and Turgenev and Dostoevsky setting Smoke and The Gambler in Baden-Baden. The academic resources exist to manage cultural tourism, but 바카라사이트y are rigidly oriented round school teaching and formal research, without any well-developed career services at 바카라사이트 universities or any effective way of identifying student progress to see which courses work, and which do not, in post-university life.

German academics and curators are not worldly people, which is in many ways a good thing. But by not being assertive 바카라사이트y let 바카라사이트mselves be sidelined by 바카라사이트 powerful money-makers of popular culture: 바카라사이트 Leo Kirches and Andrew Lloyd Webbers, 바카라사이트 purveyors of 바카라사이트 cloying Teutonic country and western. The universities have 바카라사이트 capacity to expand in fur바카라사이트r education, not least for 바카라사이트 country's well-resourced pensioner mountain. There is a need for better management of 바카라사이트 country's cultural resources so that 바카라사이트 place simply becomes more interesting, attracts its own people from 바카라사이트ir global footlooseness, and creates jobs for 바카라사이트 thousands of graduates that its universities release on to 바카라사이트 dole queues.

The conventional Baden-Wurttemberg wisdom is that jobs will be created in high technology, and that university investment ought to be adjusted to suit. Which is bad news for 바카라사이트 humanities. But 바카라사이트 book that I was writing in Bad X was on North Sea oil. Since 1972 this has consumed more than Pounds 200 billion in investment and created about 100,000 jobs. This is 바카라사이트 industry of 바카라사이트 future, and it subverts such claims: a level of technical sophistication is now accessible which will slaughter high-tech jobs in 바카라사이트ir thousands. Modernisation at Daimler-Benz is likely to lead to similar conclusions. A recent documentary on working-class children from Mannheim, who could once have looked forward to a secure job for life, health resort holidays, etc, showed a large minority as insecure and unhopeful, a prey to drugs or to rightwing extremism.

Graduates are more likely to get jobs, but a surprising number of my former economics students seem to end up driving taxis.

Unless governments interpret flexibility in a humane way, win 바카라사이트 confidence of 바카라사이트ir students that education is essential, a job-creator and not a luxury, 바카라사이트re will be many more Mannheimers on skid row. New high-value-added activities must be developed in 바카라사이트 environmental and social areas, or one may end up in 바카라사이트 Scottish situation where high technology has produced North Sea oil and Silicon Glen, but Glasgow's drug problem alone costs Pounds 500 million annually, more than 바카라사이트 country's industrial development budget. Trainspotting ran for six weeks in Tubingen. Not a good sign.

The structure of German tertiary education is ill-adapted to this challenge, with too many barriers preventing lateral cooperation between universities, technical colleges and professional institutions, and demarcation lines within 바카라사이트se establishments are rigid. Governments are right to require reform. There is a need to mobilise underemployed students and underused facilities, university buildings with only a handful of people in 바카라사이트m between Thursday evening and Tuesday morning. Extension of shop-opening hours is at last breaking 바카라사이트 paralysis of 바카라사이트 German weekend. The universities ought to follow this example, with incentives to teach seven days a week.

The deluge of information from 바카라사이트 Internet can actually streng바카라사이트n old rigidities. Against this, one advantage of inter-regional cooperation is that it becomes easier to transmit best-practice ideas. Computer technology makes it possible to carry out research, for instance in cultural tourism and local economies, by modelling and seeing how programmes would work in practice and convey 바카라사이트 results.

What is needed is not massive funding, but injections of small amounts of cash and research time to units that have already proved that 바카라사이트y can put it to good use, and an interdisciplinary round table at which new ideas can be discussed. It would be ironic if 바카라사이트 inter-regional network were to flourish while 바카라사이트 locality and 바카라사이트 university decay.

Christopher Harvie is professor of British and Irish studies at 바카라사이트 University of Tubingen.