All different but no longer all equal? New university alliance in Germany

Hedda associate Jens Jungblut examines the establishment of a new university alliance in Germany and the implications of this to the system.
The foundation of the university alliance and lobby group German U15, encompassing 15 of the large comprehensive and research intensive universities could mark yet another step in the break-up of the classical formal equality of universities in Germany and could have serious impact on the position of the rectors’ conference as well as the cooperation between politics and the higher education sector in general.
The German universities have been characterised by a formal and structural equality for a long time. Although several universities always had a better reputation for certain subjects, stemming mainly from the employed professors, there was no top-down structural stratification between the universities and all institutions received their core funding based more or less on the same criteria (with some differences between the Bundesländer). It was only with the start of the excellence initiative of the federal government and the Bundesländer that one could identify a group of universities that would be regarded in the public arena as better than other and for this would also receive a significant amount of additional funds. However, the recent foundation of an alliance of 15 large German comprehensive and research intensive universities, the German U15, indicates that the dynamics that the excellence initiative introduced to the higher education system in a top-down manner are continued through bottom-up collaborations.
The newly founded German U15 group is not the first university alliance in Germany. Already since 2003 the 9 oldest German technical universities agreed to cooperate under the umbrella of TU9 – The German Institutes of Technology. This closed group, the admission criteria is that the institution needs to be a technical university and established before 1900, sees itself as a lobby group towards society, economy and politics that especially addresses the needs of the technical and engineering subjects. They do so not only through internal cooperation but also through press releases and public statements and they clearly try to separate themselves concerning the perceived quality of their education and research from other institutions in the same field in Germany.
With technical universities having of a special and clearly defined role and mission within the higher education sector, the TU9 is perceived as mainly a strong lobby group for interests of a particular type of universities. The newly established German U15 however, is going more clearly into the direction of stratification within universities that follow similar missions and offer similar types of programs. All of the members of the German U15 are comprehensive and large universities that perceive themselves as strong research institutions and have medical faculties. Some of the members were successful in the latest excellence initiative and most of the members are within the top group of recipients of funds from the German Research Foundation (DFG). However, the admission criteria are less clear then in the case of TU9. The members of the German U15 are (along with their success in the 3rd line of the excellence initiative 2012):

This next step in the bottom-up movement towards a higher stratification between the German universities might cause more tension in the higher education system than the formation of the TU9 due to the demands and aims of the German U15. In its foundation statement the alliance sees itself as a strategic cooperation that acts as a lobby group towards society, politics and economy. Its main aim is to improve the conditions for research and teaching and strengthen the awareness of the performance of its members in the society. The group generally demands that the difference in mission, potential and capabilities between the higher education institutions in Germany is also reflected in the legal regulations, allocation of tasks as well as the public financial support. The members of U15 see research and teaching as the unified task of the universities that demands the guarantee of academic freedom and institutional autonomy.
Specifically the German U15 positions itself in regard to 12 main issues:
1. Division of labour in the higher education system
Based on the results of the excellence initiative it is clear for the members of U15 that higher education institutions in Germany are diverse in their mission, potential and capabilities, thus also the labour in the higher education system needs to be divided accordingly. This division should also be reflected in the legal regulations and the public funding instruments.
2. Autonomy
The German U15 see academic freedom and institutional autonomy as one of the core characteristics of universities. In times of growing international competition autonomy plays an important role especially for universities that are mainly active in basic research.
3. Growing student numbers
The members of U15 see the growth of student numbers in Germany as a challenge that grew to the extent of endangering the research activity. They demand more public money for research-accompanying teaching to ensure good education and scientific quality.
4. Financing of higher education
The members demand that both the federal level and the Bundesländer are allowed to jointly finance higher education again. For this to be possible they request a fast agreement between the different political parties to amend the constitution accordingly, so the universities would be able to receive more money to cater to the growing number of students but also to continue the excellence initiative projects.
5. Research focus
The U15 see themselves as research universities that are highly engaged in basic research and thus as the basis for research and research-based teaching on an internationally competitive level.
6. Support of young researchers
The group sees a strong need for improvement in Germany regarding Post-Doc career opportunities. To offer young researchers who have just completed their PhD a good employment situation, the U15 demand the implementation of a tenure-track system in Germany that also allows for externally funded positions.
7. Cooperation with research institutes
The German U15 wants to put a stronger emphasis on cooperation between universities and research institutes in the future including joint support structures for young researchers, cooperative graduate school and the shared use of infrastructure.
8. Internationalisation
The group acknowledges and accepts the international competition and wants to work together with politics, other societal actors as well as their international partners to ensure a high amount of international visibility of its members.
9. Ranking/Rating
The U15 supports the idea of benchmarking through qualified ratings to measure their performance. At the same time they question the usefulness of rankings that measure different institutions with different missions with the same criteria thus not reflecting the fitness for purpose of these institutions. They demand that the participating universities should have the right to decide upon the indicators as well as the methodology used for rankings. Finally, the U15 prefers topic-based ratings rather than regular cycle-based (i.e. yearly) ratings.
10. Management structures
In their view, modern universities need a stable and professional management structure and a clear division between management and control structures. To ensure a reliable work environment the members of U15 support the retention of university boards as control and oversight structures.
11. Medicine
The medical faculties are integral parts of universities. Even though they also fulfil the public task of medical care this should not lead to a spin-off of the medical faculties.
12. The German rectors’ conference
The U15 demand that the rectors’ conference needs to be more present as the voice of the higher education institutions in Germany. This requests that the different types of institutions within the rectors’ conference formulate their interests more clearly. The U15 wants to engage in a process of reflection on the role of the rectors’ conference within and outside of the conference.
This last demand coincides with a growing debate within the German higher education system and between rectors about the role of the rectors’ conference and to what extend the old tradition of a decision-making process aiming at a consensus should be abolished (see this article in The Spiegel).
Clearly the formation of the German U15 serves as a preparation by the members of the alliance to successfully engage in the growing competition for public and private funds. By positioning themselves as leading comprehensive universities and through the inclusion of several institutions that were successful in the excellence initiative it seems that the group tries to develop a label and influence decision makers to ensure a good position for its members.
From a more system-level perspective, when looking at the excellence initiative, the existence of the TU9 and U15 lobby groups and the growing tension within the rectors’ conference several questions arise. Is this the start for a full-blown stratification of the German higher education system, following the Anglo-Saxon model or is it merely a paper exercise that creates a joint label but without enough political impact to actually lead to structural or financial changes? In how far will the success of the lobby groups also be tied to the possibility of strengthening again the influence of the federal level on higher education? Will the cooperation in the TU9 or U15 lead to stronger convergence of the institutions concerning their attraction of competitive research funds or will the competition be as strong within the group as between the group and the rest of the institutions? What does this development mean for the rectors’ conference as well as the institutions that are not part of one of the lobby groups?
And finally, how will politics, society and economy react to this development, will they accept the move from structural equality to a “difference in mission” and “difference in funding and regulation” approach? At least for the latter point first statements show a mixed reaction, while the federal minister for higher education Annette Schavan welcomed the formation of the group, representatives of different local student unions from U15 member institutions as well as critical voice within the higher education system, such as the sociologist Prof. Michael Hartmann criticized it.