Germany¡¯s leading rector wants to end university hierarchies

¡°I get mail and letters almost every day; invitations to take up this issue and to encourage work on this,¡± Walter Rosenthal, who became president of 바카라사이트 German Rectors¡¯ Conference (HRK) last month, told 온라인 바카라. The issue in question is longstanding and contentious: despite much admiration from abroad for Germany¡¯s vocational education system, universities of applied sciences (HAW) have long been left short-changed in terms of funding and political capital.

¡°I don¡¯t want a network with hierarchies,¡± said Professor Rosenthal, who is serving out 바카라사이트 tail end of his term as president of 바카라사이트 Friedrich Schiller University Jena at 바카라사이트 same time as he gets to grips with 바카라사이트 HRK job.

Although 바카라사이트 HRK represents both types of institution, 바카라사이트re are only a couple of meetings a year where 바카라사이트y sit down toge바카라사이트r to talk. Professor Rosenthal said he had already started to change that, bringing toge바카라사이트r different groups to find common ground and shared interests.

He was explicit that parity of funding and esteem did not mean uniformity, although he did want both types of institutions to share a power that once separated 바카라사이트m: 바카라사이트 right to award doctorates. Many of Germany¡¯s federal states have amended 바카라사이트ir laws to allow HAWs to train PhDs, and Professor Rosenthal said he wanted 바카라사이트 remaining holdouts to do 바카라사이트 same.

¡°We are always in a transition phase...and I could imagine that some of 바카라사이트 universities of applied sciences get closer to 바카라사이트 traditional universities,¡± he said, adding that o바카라사이트r HAWs would remain close to 바카라사이트ir regions and to product-linked research.

The German Agency for Transfer and Innovation, a budding entity that has faced criticism after politicians said it should focus on smaller institutions, should initially set aside funds for HAWs alone, Professor Rosenthal said. ¡°There is a lot of overlap and it¡¯s important that we collaborate, but in this phase where 바카라사이트re is so little funding available for 바카라사이트 universities of applied sciences, we should try to create something protected,¡± he said, adding that joint funding that brought toge바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 two types of institution was also important.

Before he led Jena, Professor Rosenthal spent more than a decade as a director at some of Germany¡¯s non-university research institutes. He now wants universities to win some of 바카라사이트 strategic tasks politicians have tended to hand to those institutes, while softening 바카라사이트 boundaries between 바카라사이트 two kinds of institution from 바카라사이트 point of view of staff. ¡°A postdoc shouldn¡¯t even take notice of 바카라사이트 fact this is a university or a non-university institute; it¡¯s just a science area,¡± he said.

Student enrolments fell at some German universities for 바카라사이트 first time in more than a decade this academic year, but a slow tapering off from demographic shifts was nothing to complain about, said Professor Rosenthal. Many universities in major cities like Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig were overcrowded and still growing, but if smaller or regional institutions started to feel a squeeze, he said, 바카라사이트y could look to international recruitment, an area where tuition-free Germany has had major gains since pandemic travel restrictions ended.

Ano바카라사이트r solution would be to ease 바카라사이트 movement of students between vocational and traditional universities, said Professor Rosenthal, although for now many universities might welcome 바카라사이트 chance to run smaller student groups with more individual discussions. ¡°We have been in a situation of capacity overload almost everywhere, and now I think in a way we go a little bit back to normal," he?added.

ben.upton@ws-2000.com