Corporate university sponsorship taken to task

By Richard Fuchs. Struggling with tightening purse strings and shrinking research budgets, Germany's universities are fighting back with funding from big business. A new online portal aims to publicize any dubious sponsorship deals.
Berlinstudent Erik Marquardt sometimes feels like German universities are really just glorified advertising agencies.
He see's a future where lecture halls will no longer be named after great thinkers and poets, but after discount stores and online dating companies. Cafeterias will no longer be decorated according to the seasons, but furnished year-round with the colors and slogans of cell phone networks. And new students' introductions will no longer be organized by peer representatives, but by consultancy firms. Read more...