The long educational tradition, the educational policy of keeping pace with the times and the school development strategy make the teaching scale and system in Germany attract attention. Germany has become one of the famous educational powers in the world. However, since the second half of the last century, especially after the end of the Cold War, the German university system and education model have been greatly impacted, and a large number of international students and scholars have entered British and American universities for further study. Facing the flexible curriculum and degree system of British and American higher education, the European higher education tradition represented by Germany and France is losing its international appeal. In this context, the German education community has to take the initiative to make changes. 1999, 29 EU countries gathered in Bologna, Italy, to discuss the education reform plan, and the result was the Bologna process.
In the Bologna process, countries meet to establish a unified higher education area. Universities in member countries will set up comparable disciplines and degrees, which can promote the flow of students between universities, facilitate the recognition of foreign university degrees and promote universities to strive for the best talents.
However, the Bologna process has been implemented for nearly ten years, and its effect is far below expectations. Academic ranking of world universities, the world's first university ranking published by Shanghai Jiaotong University since 2003, shows that the top ten positions are occupied by American universities almost every year, while German universities are rare even within the top 50. Although this ranking can't be regarded as absolute authority, in any case, the educational gap between Germany and the United States has risen instead of falling, and the influence and teaching quality of German universities have been greatly affected.
Faced with this situation, the German government had to carry out reforms again and launch a series of reforms to establish? Elite university? A new plan for the goal. In the original intention of the government, it is hoped that the university will return to society and become a place to represent different groups and stakeholders and jointly promote social prosperity and progress. Based on this goal, the German government and the leadership of German public universities began to reform the organizational structure and management model of German public universities. However, in the actual operation process, there is a big gap between ideas and reality. Among them, the Law on University Freedom promulgated by North Rhine-westfalen (hereinafter referred to as North Rhine-Westphalia) is very representative.
The purpose of this law is to give universities greater autonomy to carry out reforms. According to this law, after the reform, professors are no longer employees of the government, but employees of universities, where they are engaged in teaching and scientific research; The government encourages universities to obtain funds from outside (the public or enterprises). In addition, the government is only responsible for the legal issues of universities, and only when there is a legal dispute will the government intervene. The government will not interfere in issues outside the law. In line with this law, universities in North Rhine-Westphalia have set up school boards as the consulting and supervision institutions of the president's office, which are responsible for consulting and supervising the teaching objectives, development direction, fund allocation and other matters of the school, and actually have mastered a considerable part of the school management rights. Its members are not entirely from the government and schools, at least 50% are from society and enterprises, and most of them are not members of our school.
Nominally, this law hopes that German universities will gradually move towards society and be managed by society, not by the government. But in practice, this social concept is combined with German universities' insistence on teaching and scientific research? Humboldt spirit? There is a big conflict. Specifically, the school board has a great influence on the direction of education and the allocation of funds. Because the government encourages universities to obtain funds from outside, they can combine with social production and make quick profits in disciplines, such as computers and engineering. Traditional subjects with a large number of students, such as German literature, will be given priority by the Council. However, basic disciplines, such as mathematics and history, which have a large investment and slow results, are bound to receive a cold shoulder.
At the same time, because more than half of the school board members come from society and enterprises, most of them are not from our school, they are inevitably biased towards their own related disciplines and lack understanding of relatively unpopular disciplines. Even if these subjects have the traditional advantages of the school, they are likely to become victims because of lack of cognition. Take Bonn University, a famous university in North Rhine-Westphalia, as an example: Central Asian Language and Culture Institute, founded in 1964, is the only specialized institution in German universities that specializes in the language, history and culture of Mongolian, Tibetan and Turkic nationalities in Central Asia, and its founder W? Hersheg, the world master of Mongolian studies, once taught at Fu Jen Catholic University in China. This study includes many famous scholars, such as Professor Michael Wells and other world-renowned scholars. At the same time, they have close ties and extensive exchanges with the academic circles in China. However, after the promulgation of the Law on University Freedom, its living space was greatly compressed. The once brilliant discipline is gradually declining, which makes people sigh and think deeply.
If something with a long tradition wants to survive, it must be adjusted with the changes of the times, but every adjustment and change needs to face the gap between imagination and realization, ideal and reality. After the reform, timely adjustment according to the effect is the only way to ensure the success of the reform. The present situation of German university reform is worthy of in-depth discussion.