REPORTS
AND
DOCUMENTS
University Reform in Germany
" A m o n g communities of organisms and among communities of universities,
there are episodes of innovation and hybridisation when new forms appear.
For universities one of these episodes occurred in the nineteenth century.
It was due largely to Wilhelm von Humboldt . . . .
N o t only Germany but
the whole world of learning is in his debt." x The great ascendancy of the
German university in the nineteenth century and its great prestige and influence
in the universities in all the leading countries of the world are now memories.
The National Socialist regime by its dismissal of Jews and socialists and its
anti-intellectual university policy severely damaged an already weakened
university system. The war added material damage to the intellectual and
moral damage done by the government. A f t e r the war, the vast increase in
numbers of students, the emergence of new demands on universities, the
9rapid growth o f scientific and scholarly disciplines interacting with organisational laws have produced a crisis in the German university, the end of which
is not in sight. The Science Council has tried with courage and imagination
to adapt the German university to the new circumstances while holding fast
to Humboldt's ideal of the university.
In the present issue of M I N E R V A , I am publishing an abridgement of the
recommendations Jor the reorganisation of courses of study at higher educational institutions which were recently produced by the Science Council. 2 1
thought that it would be instructive for the public to which M I N E R V A is
addressed to have a translation of the charter of the modern German university, Wilhelm yon Humboldt's memorandum written some time between the
a u t u m n o f 1809 and the a u t u m n of 1810.
ON THE SPIRIT A N D THE O R G A N I S A T I O N A L
F R A M E W O R K OF I N T E L L E C T U A L INSTITUTIONS
IN BERLIN"
The idea of disciplined intellectual activity, embodied in institutions,
is the most valuable element of the moral culture of the nation. These
intellectual institutions 4 have as their task the cultivation of science and
1 Ashby, Eric, " The Future of the Nineteenth Century Idea of a University ", Minerva,
VI, 1 (Autumn, 1967), p. 3.
2 See Minerva (this issue), p. 250.
Humboldt, Wilhelm yon, " Uber die innere und ~iussere Organisation der hSheren
wissenschaftlichen Anstalten zu Berlin ", Gesammelte Schriften (Herausgegeben yon der
KSniglich Preussischen Akademie tier Wissenschaften) (Berlin: B. Behr's Verlag, 1903),
pp. 250-260. For the background to the composition of the memorandum, see Harnack,
Adolf yon, Geschichte der K6niglieh Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin,
Vol. 1, Part II (Berlin: Reichsdruckerei, 1900), p. 594. The first publication of the
memorandum was in ibid., Vol. II, Urkunden und Aktenstiicke, pp. 361-367.
4 Von Humboldt uses the term wissensehaftIiehe Anstalten to cover both academies and
universities. I have used " intellectual institutions " as the English equivalent.
For
Wissenschaft, I preferred to use " science and scholarship " which I think is more correct
University Reform in Germany
243
scholarship (Wissenschafl) in the deepest and broadest sense. It is the
calling of these intellectual institutions to devote themselves to the elaboration of the uncontrived substance of intellectual and moral culture, growing
from an uncontrived inner necessity.
Their essence, manifested in the individual, consists of the combination
of objective scientific and scholarly knowledge with the development of
the person; in institutional terms, this essence lies in the articulation of
the mastery of transmitted knowledge at the school stage with the first
stages of independent inquiry. In other words, the task of these intellectual
institutions is to effect the transition from the former to the latter. The
main consideration is the cultivation of science and scholarship. Insofar
as science and scholarship are kept free of corruption, they will be
correctly apprehended in their essential nature and as a whole, whatever
the variations in particular instances.
Since these institutions can only fulfil their purpose when each of them
bears continuously in mind the pure idea of science and scholarship, their
dominant principles must be freedom and the absence of distraction
(Einsamkeit). The intellectual exertions of men, however, only prosper
through a process of collaboration. This does not mean merely that one
individual supplies what another lacks. Collaboration operates through a
process in which the successful intellectual achievements of one person
arouse the intellectual passions and enthusiasms of others, and through
the fact that what was at first expressed only by one individual becomes a
common intellectual possession instead of fading away in isolation. Given
this collective character of individual accomplishment, the inner life of
these higher intellectual institutions must be such as to call forth and
sustain a continuously self-renewing, wholly uncoerced and disinterested
collaboration.
One unique feature of higher intellectual institutions is that they conceive
of science and scholarship as dealing with ultimately inexhaustible tasks:
this means that they are engaged in an unceasing process of inquiry. The
lower levels of education present closed and settled bodies of knowledge.
The relation between teacher and pupil at the higher level is a different
one from what it was at the lower levels. At the higher level, the teacher
does not exist for the sake of the student; both teacher and student have
their justification in the common pursuit of knowledge. The teacher's
performance depends on the students' presence and interest--without this
science and scholarship could not grow. If the students who are to form
his audience did not come before him of their own free will, he, in his
quest for knowledge, would have to seek them out. The goals of science
and scholarship are worked towards most effectively through the synthesis
of the teacher's and the students' dispositions. The teacher's mind is more
mature but it is also somewhat one-sided in its development and more
dispassionate; the student's mind is less able and less committed but it is
than the more usual alternatives of " science " or " higher learning ". Here and there
I have interpreted rather than translated. On the whole, however, I have adhered closely
to the German text while trying to produce a translation which is closer to the intellectual
idiom of early nineteenth century learned German than the twentieth century idiom of
university discussion. [Editor.]
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Reports and Documents
nonetheless open and responsive to every possibility. The two together
are a fruitful combination.
Higher intellectual institutions are, if we disregard their formal position
in the state, nothing other than man's intellectual life which external
opportunity and deeper motivation have led towards scientific and scholarly
research. Thus, one person might burrow and collect information on his
own, another might pursue learning through associating himself with men
of his own age, while a third will do so by assembling around himself
a circle of disciples. Even the state must respect these motives and dispositions to cultivate science and scholarship, when it seeks to give a more
consolidated structure to what are by their nature ungovernable and, in a
certain sense, contingent intellectual activities. It must therefore seek
to maintain intellectual activity at its liveliest and most productive level;
in order to prevent it from declining in its standards, it must maintain
a sharply and firmly defined distinction between the higher intellectual
institutions and the schools. (This applies both to general theoretical
as well as to the most varied practical educational institutions.)
The state must always remain conscious of the fact that it never has
and in principle never can, by its own action, bring about the fruitfulness
of intellectual activity. It must indeed be aware that it can only have a
prejudicial influence if it intervenes. The state must understand that
intellectual work will go on infinitely better if it does not intrude, The
state's legitimate sphere of action must be adapted to the following
circumstances: in view of the fact lhat in the real world an organisational
framework and resources are needed for any widely practised activity,
the state must supply the organisational framework and the resources
necessary for the practice of science and scholarship. The manner in which
the state provides the organisational framework and resources can be
damaging to the essence of science and scholarship; the very fact that
it provides such organisational structures and resources, which are quite
alien to the nature of the activity which they are to serve, can result in
the degradation to a basely material level of what should be intellectual
and lofty. Finally, that it must bear in mind, above all else, the essential
nature of science and scholarship in order to foster what it might have,
even quite innocently, sullied or obstructed.
Even if this is only another view of the same procedure, it has the
substantial advantage that the state, if it considers this aspect of the
matter, will exercise more self-restraint in whatever intervention it undertakes. In the practical sphere of state action, a theoretically incorrect view,
whatever is said to the contrary, always does damage, since nothing the
state does is a merely mechanical or superficial action without repercussions.
Once this is clear, it is easy to see that in matters of the spirit, i.e., of
the intellectual and moral component of higher intellectual institutions,
effective accomplishment depends on strict adherence to the principle
that science and scholarship do not consist of closed bodies of permanently
settled truths; effective intellectual accomplishment is to be sought in ceaseless effort.
As soon as one ceases to pursue scientific and scholarly knowledge or
imagines that it need not be pursued from the utmost depths of the mind
University Reform in Germany
245
and when one comes to believe that it can be cultivated simply by piling
up unconnected facts, then the cause of learning is irremediably and
permanently lost. If such an attitude is held for a long time, science
and scholarship become dissipated; when this happens only their language
survives as an empty shell. The state also has to suffer their loss in such
circumstances. Only science and scholarship which come from the inner
depths of the mind and which are cultivated only at those depths can
contribute to the transformation of character. The state gains as little as
mankind from mere facts and discussion. They are both more concerned
with character and conduct.
Now, in order to avoid this wrong path, there must be a lively and
spirited exertion of the intellect in three directions: first, all understanding
in the wider sense must be sought by the application of a fundamental
principle to explanations of natural events which penetrate from mechanical
to dynamic, organic and ultimately psychological levels; all efforts at
understanding should be directed towards an ideal; and ultimately, the
principle and the ideals should be fused into a coherent idea.
Of course, this cannot be brought about simply by a contrived promotional scheme, nor will it occur to anyone that Germans would seek to
do so by such superficial methods. It is an inherent tendency of the
German intellectual tradition not to have recourse to such superficial
procedures. We need only make sure that the right tendencies are not
suppressed either by force or by hostility, which it must be admitted,
does in fact exist.
Since every form of one-sidedness must be excluded from higher
intellectual institutions, there will naturally be many who are active in
them to whom this tendency towards depth and breadth is alien and there
will be some to whom it is repugnant. In its pure and unqualified form,
this tendency will, in any case, be found only in a handful of persons.
It need, however, find expression only occasionally, here and there, to have
a widespread and enduring impact. What is, however, very necessary is
that this tendency towards depth and breadth should be respected by those
who have an appreciation of it and that those who would damage it should
be restrained.
This tendency towards depth and breadth is found mostly and iri its most
pronounced form in philosophy and art. Ouite apart from their inherent
inclination to decay, little is to be expected of them if their essential spirit
is not appropriately expressed in other branches of knowledge and categories
of research, or if it is applied there only in a logically or mathematically
formalised manner.
If, however, the principle of cultivating science and scholarship for their
own sake is placed in a dominant position in higher intellectual institutions,
other matters may be disregarded. Neither unity nor full-roundedness will
then be lacking; each naturally fosters the other and a proper balance
will thereby be maintained. This is the secret of good research method.
With this, all of the requirements are satisfied as far as the spirit of
things is concerned.
Now as regards the organisational and material side of the relationship
of the institution to the state, the only concerns of the latter must be the
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profusion (in the sense of mental power and variety) of intellectual talents
to be brought together in the institution. This can be achieved through care
in the selection of persons and the assurance of freedom in their intellectual
activities. This intellectual freedom can be threatened not only by the
state, but also by the intellectual institutions themselves which tend to
develop, at their birth, a certain outlook and which will therefore readily
resist the emergence of another outlook. The state must seek to avert
the harm which can possibly arise from this source.
The heart of the matter is the appointment of the persons who are to
do the intellectual work. When we come to discuss the differentiation
of the total system of intellectual institutions we will propose a method for
avoiding certain dangers in the process of selection. Once appointment
policy is taken care of, the next thing is the drawing up of organisational
statutes, which should in general be few and simple but more effectively
articulated than is usually the case. As in the previous case, organisational
statutes can be dealt with only when the subdivisions are discussed.
Equipment must of course be considered and, in this respect, it must be
remembered that the accumulation of dead collections is not the main
thing. It should not be forgotten that it is quite easy for them to deaden
and degrade the mind. After all, the richest academies and universities
are by no means always those in which science and scholarship have grown
most deeply and most imaginatively. The relationships of the higher
intellectual institutions to the secondary level of education, on the one
hand, and the relationships of scientific and scholarly activity to practical
affairs, on the other, are of primary concern in any discussion of the role
of the state in the total system of intellectual institutions.
The state must not deal with its universities as Gymnasia or as specialised
technical schools; it must not use its academy as if it were a technical or
scientific commission. It must in general--with certain exceptions among
the universities which will be considered later--demand nothing from them
simply for the satisfaction of its own needs. It should instead adhere to a
deep conviction that if the universities attain their highest ends, they will
also realise the state's ends too, and these on a far higher plane. On this
higher plane, more is comprehended and forces and mechanisms are
brought into action which are quite different from those which the state
can command.
On the other side, it is above all the state's obligation to organise the
lower levels of its educational system so that they are harmonious with
the higher intellectual system. Success in doing this rests on a correct
understanding of the relationship of the schools to higher intellectual life
and the increasingly fruitful conviction that the schools are not expected
to anticipate the instruction offered by the university. The state must
understand that the universities are neither a mere complement to the
schools within the same category, nor merely a further stage in school.
This conviction requires that the transition from school to university
constitute a stage in the life of a young person which--when it is successful--brings him to a point where physically, morally and intellectually he
can be entrusted with freedom and with the right to act autonomously.
The young person, on entry into university, should be released from the
University Reform in Germany
247
compulsion to enter either into a state of idleness or into practical life,
and should be enabled to aspire to and elevate himself to the cultivation
of science or scholarship which hitherto have only been pointed out to
him from afar.
The way thereto is simple and sure. The aim of the schools must be
the harmonious development of all the capacities of their pupils. Their
powers must be focused on the smallest possible number of subjectmatters but every aspect of these must be dealt with to as great an extent
as possible. Knowledge should be so implanted in the mind of the pupil
that understanding, knowledge and creativity excite it, not through any
external features, but through their inner precision, harmony and beauty.
To this end, and for the preliminary training of the intellect for pure
science and scholarship, mathematics above all should be employed, and
what is more, from the first moment that the mental powers are capable
of it.
A mind which has been trained in this way will spontaneously aspire to
science and scholarship. Others with the same diligence and the same
talent but with different training will immerse themselves in practical
attairsJeither immediately or before their education has been completed.
They will therewith render themselves useless for science and scholarship,
or, lacking the diligence to attain the higher plane of science and scholarship, they will disperse their abilities over unrelated fields of knowledge.
On the Criteria of Classification of Higher Intellectual Institutions; Types
of Higher Intellectual lnst#utions
Ordinarily, when one speaks of higher intellectual institutions, one refers
to universities and to academies of the sciences and arts. It is not difficult
to derive these institutions which developed in a haphazard way as if they
were the manifestations of an idea. But such derivations, which have been
much favoured ever since Kant, are partly wrongheaded and partly useless.
It is more important to consider whether an academy should be created
or maintained alongside a university, what tasks and jurisdiction should be
assigned to each separately and to both together in order to aid each to
accomplish what is possible for it alone to accomplish.
If one assigns to the university the tasks of teaching and dissemination
of the resuks of science and scholarship and assigns to the academy the
task of its extension and advancement, an injustice is obviously done to
the university. Science and scholarship have been advanced as much--and in Germany, even more by university teachers as by members of
academies. University teachers have made these contributions to the
progress of their disciplines by virtue of their teaching appointments. For
unconstrained oral communication to an audience, which includes a
significant number of intelligences thinking in unison with the lecture:r,
inspires those who have become used to this mode of study just as surely
as does the peaceful solitude of a writer or the less institutionalised
activities of the members of an academy. The progress of science and
scholarship is obviously more rapid and more lively in a university where
their problems are discussed back and forth by a large number of forceful,
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vigorous, youthful intelligences. Science and scholarship cannot be presented in a genuinely scientific or scholarly manner without constantly
generating independent thought and stimulation; it is inconceivable that
discoveries should not be frequently made in such a situation. University
teaching is moreover not such a strenuous affair that it should be regarded
as a distraction from the calm needed for research and study; it is, rather,
a help to it. At every large university, there are always some men who
teach little or not at all and who devote themselves entirely to solitary
study and research. It would be entirely safe to entrust the growth of
scientific and scholarly knowledge to the universities as long as they are
properly conducted; this is why the academies can be dispensed with.
The organised societies (gesellschaftliche Vereine) in which university
teachers do not necessarily participate to the same extent everywhere, are
scarcely on tiffs account justified, in view of the fact of the costliness of
their establishment. For one thing, these types of society are very loosely
organised even in the academies; furthermore their usefulness is found
mainly in those observational and experimental disciplines where the rapid
communication of particular facts is important. Furthermore, in such
disciplines, private scientific societies are formed readily and quite without
the supplementary assistance of the state.
If one looks at the matter more closely, one sees that academies have
flourished primarily in foreign countries where the universities are not as
effective as the German universities or are not as well recognised. In
Germany itself, academies have flourished in places where there have been
no universities and in periods when universities did not exist in any liberal,
many-sided form. In more recent times, the academies have not distinguished themselves especially and have played little or no part in the real
rise of German science, scholarship and art.
In order to keep both of these types of institution functioning in a
fruitful way, they should be linked with each other in such a way that,
although their activities remain distinct, their individual members do not
belong exclusively to the one or to the other. Linked in this way, their
distinctive and separate existences can assume a new and superior form.
The utility of such a separation rests much less on the characteristic
activities of each of the institutions than on the distinctiveness of their form
and on their relations with the state. In fact, university teachers, quite
without the establishment of their own academy, can achieve all the
purposes assigned to an academy; they can form, as they did in G6ttingen,
their own learned society which is different from a genuine academy.
The university always stands in a close relationship to practical life and
to the needs of the State, since it is always concerned with the practical
affair of training the younger generation. Academies concern themselves
only with science and scholarship. University teachers are generally
integrated with each other simply through the internal culture and the
organisational framework of their disciplines. But regarding their proper
business of science and scholarship, they communicate with each other
only insofar as they are inclined to do so. The academy is in contrast a
society constituted for the purpose of subjecting the work of each member
to the assessment of all the others.
University Re[orm in Germany
249
In this way, the idea of an academy must be maintained as the highest
and ultimate sanctuary ~ of science and scholarship and as that corporation
which is freest of the control of the state. The risk must be run that such
a corporation, through feebleness or one-sidedness, will show that what
is right and desirable does not always occur even under the most favourable
external circumstances. Nonetheless one must run this risk because the
idea in itself is lofty and beneficent and because it might be realised at any
time in a really worthy manner.
Through this relationship, the university and the academy can compete
with and be critical of each other. The process of interaction between
them will be such that any excesses or deficiencies which might give reason
for apprehension will automatically balance themselves.
The disagreements between universities and academies arise in the first
instance in connection with the selection of members of the two bodies.
Every member of an academy must have the right to give lectures without
having "habilitated" and without becoming, by virtue of that qualification, a member of the university. It is perfectly reasonable that many
learned men should be both university teachers and academicians, but
each of the institutions will have other members who belong to it
exclusively.
The right of appointment of university teachers must be reserved
exclusively to the state; it is certainly not a good arrangement to grant
more influence to the faculties than a prudent and fair-minded body of
trustees (Curatorium) would allow. Although disagreements and disputes
within a university are wholesome and necessary, conflicts which might
arise between teachers because of their specialised intellectual interests
might unwittingly affect their viewpoints. The condition of the university
is too closely bound up with the direct interest of the state to permit any
other arrangement.
The choice of members of the academy, on the other hand, must be left
to the academy itself, subject only to royal confirmation which will not
lightly be withheld. The academy is a corporation in which the principle
of unity is of the highest importance and, because of its purely scientific
and scholarly concerns, what happens in it is not of immediate interest
to the state as such.
It is at this point that it is relevant to discuss the previous corrective
which will operate in elections to higher intellectual institutions. For
insofar as the state and the academy have about the same share in the
decision, the spirit in which each acts will soon become evident; where they
go astray, public opinion will impartially set them back on the right path.
But since it is not likely that both at the same time will go astray, at least
not in the same way, not all decisions regarding appointments will run
the same risks and the system as a whole will be safe from one-sidedness.
The diversity of talents and interests is further guaranteed by the fact
that in addition to those who are appointed by the state and those who are
elected by the academy, there will be the Privatdozenten, who at the
beginning, at least, are dependent on the approbation of their audience.
5 Humboldt originally wrote "refuge "
b y " s a n c t u a r y " (Freistiitte). [Editor.]
(Zu[tuchtsort),
a n d it w a s s u b s e q u e n t l y r e p l a c e d
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The academy can, in addition to the performance of its regular duties,
play a distinctive role in the systematic conduct of observation and experiments. Of these, some should be decided on entirely by the academy acting
on its own free choice, others should be proposed to it and the university
should have some influence in the making of these proposals. This will
provide another occasion for reciprocal influence among the various
intellectual institutions.
In addition to the academy and the university, the category of intellectual
institutions includes the institutes which have no life of their own.
These latter must remain separate from the other two and should be
directly under the supervision of the state. But both the academy and the
university should have the use, with certain qualifications, of these institutes,
and they should also have some supervisory powers over them.
They can exercise these supervisory powers over the institutes only if
they present memoranda and proposals for their improvement, not directly
to the institutes, but to the state.
Through the university, the academy will obtain the right to use such
facilities of the institutes as the anatomical and comparative anatomical
theatres. These have not been connected with the academy because
hitherto the subjects which have fallen within their terms of reference have
been dealt with from a narrow medical point of view rather than from
the broader standpoint of natural science.
The academy, the university, and the auxiliary institutes constitute three
autonomous, integral units of the total system of intellectual institutions.
All of them, particularly the latter two and to a lesser degree the academy,
are under the supervision and guidance of the state.
Academy and university are equally independent. They are linked
through having common members, through the university's power to grant
the right of delivering lectures to all the members of the academy and
through the academy's carrying out the observational and experimental
projects proposed by the university.
The university and academy both utilise and supervise the auxiliary
institutes, although the supervisory function has to be exercised through
the state.
Regarding the Academy
Here the manuscript ends.
II
THE REFORM OF COURSES
OF STUDY IN WEST GERMAN
UNIVERSITIES
1
WHEN the Science Council promulgated its recommendations for the
reorganisation of courses of study in higher educational institutions, it did
1 Emp]ehlungen zur Neuordnung des Studiums an den IVissenscha]tlichen Hochschulen
verabschiedet in der Vollver~ammlung des Wissenschaflsrates am 14 Mai 1966 (Recommendations ]or the Reorgantsation o] Courses of Study in Higher Educational Institutions.
presented to the Plenary Session of the Science Council, 14 May, 1966) (Tiibingen:
J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebcck), 1966).
University Reform in Germany
251
so as part of its long-term task of elaborating a comprehensive plan for the
advancement of knowledge and the development of academic institutions.
It had already surveyed the higher educational institutions themselves,
as well as libraries and research institutes not part of universities. Now
it ,had to face the question of the role to be assigned in future to the
various fields of science and scholarship. Only in this way could a
comprehensive plan be framed for which the required resources and the
mode of their distribution could be specified. This was especially true
of the plans for the development of higher educational institutions up to
1970 and for the programme of "centres of concentration ". All this
prepared the way for the present set of recommendations.
The Recommendations of the Science Council for the Development of
Scientific Institutions (1960)2 were intended to make the institutions
function productively. It became clear at that time that in the long run it
would be impossible to create the necessary conditions for full productivity
in research and teaching unless the conditions which had led to the
critical situation of higher education in Western Germany were analysed.
Only then would it be possible to organise academic studies in relation to
research and to the objectives of higher education so that students could
complete their studies in a reasonable time and with adequate preparation
for their future professional responsibilities. Until the direction of future
developments was established, it was impossible to predict the necessary
increase in the numbers of teachers and to undertake the development of
seminars and research institutes.
In the present recommendations, the Science Council will confine itself
to general principles appropriate to the reorganisation of courses of study.
It recognises that conditions differ from discipline to discipline. The
Science Council is aware that the fulfilment of the recommendations
regarding the organisation of courses of study will have extensive consequences for the nature and tasks of the teaching staff as well as for the
organisation of academic institutions. The same is true of the distribution
and allocation of "centres of concentration "' in research. The present
recommendations form only part of a more comprehensive reform of
higher education.
THE TASKS OF H I G H E R EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS:
THE RELATION BETWEEN RESEARCH AND TEACHING
Ever since the time of the Humboldt reforms and the resulting foundation
of the Prussian universities, educational institutions in Germany have
adhered to the principle of the unity of research and teaching. This
principle, which was an essential factor in the growth and accomplishments
of the German universities during the nineteenth century and the first part
of the present century, has left a deep impression on their structure. The
question now arises as to whether the traditional unity of research and
2 Emp]ehlungen des Wissenscha#srates zum Ausbau der wissenseha[tlichen Einrichtungen
(Bonn: Bundesdruckerei, 1960). Sumrnarised as " Recommendations of the Science Council
for the Development of Scientific Institutions in Western Germany. Part I: Colleges and
Universities ", in Minerva, 1, 1 (Autumn, 1962), pp. 87-105.
Reports and Documents
252
teaching should be maintained in the future. The subject was briefly
discussed and the principle affirmed by the Science Council in its recommendations of 1960. 8 The council emphasised the importance of creating
conditions in the universities for research to prosper and develop. It
also stressed that an essential feature of German higher education was the
opportunity provided for students, in the more advanced stages of their
work, to participate directly in research.
Since 1960, the measures taken by the federal and state governments
in the development of higher educational institutions have to a large extent
reduced the burdens and improved the working conditions of academic
staff. Although significant, these measures have only partially overcome
the weaknesses of the West German higher educational system. One of
these weaknesses is the increasing strain of maintaining the unity of
research and teaching. The ramifications of the problem must be examined
before decisions are taken about future measures.
The continued expansion of teaching and examining duties, in addition
to the tasks of academic self-government, have eroded the time available
for research to an unacceptable extent. Furthermore, the training of
students and of the younger generation of scientists and scholars has
received less than its full due. In this emergency, professors and their
colleagues have shown themselves to be masters of improvisation, but they
have greatly overstrained themselves in the process.
The tasks of teaching and research have become so separate from each
other and have attained such a large scale that the reestablishment of an
intimate connection between them no longer seems possible or even
desirable. And it has been said that the demand that research and teaching
should be closely interwoven rests on a misconception of the actual
situation and hampers the effective performance of both functions. It
has also been pointed out that in some foreign countries, research and
teaching have successfully functioned independently from each other for
a long time. In opposition to arguments for loosening the bond between
research and teaching, it may be said that there is scarcely any sphere of
life in which scientific and scholarly knowledge is not a presupposition of
professional practice. This, it seems to the council, is an argument for
the unity of teaching and research and for the maintenance of their
traditional freedom.
The separation of teaching and research would result in the injurious
isolation of research. Effective and active research depends on systematic
teaching because the latter imposes an obligation to present particular
research results in more comprehensive categories and to treat them from
a more general and theoretical standpoint. Teaching thus assists the
formulation of standards for the assessment of research; it provides a
necessary measure of criticism and new stimuli. It has been generally
observed that many scientists who work in independent, non-university
institutes which are exclusively concerned with research are not content
with the opportunities for informal discussion provided by popular scientific
writing, internal seminars, conferences and Congresses; they often seek
Ibid.
University Reform in Germany
253
opportunities to teach in higher educational institutions. It is also true
that research requires a well-trained body of younger workers. These can
be recruited mainly from higher educational institutions which adhere to
the principle of the unity of research and teaching.
The institutional separation of research and teaching is also disadvantageous to teaching. Only that teaching which is infused with the spirit and
ideas of research has any value in the training of young persons for those
professions which are "science-based ". The scientific permeation of the
professions has led to a situation in which experience and tradition are
increasingly inadequate; the professions nowadays depend more and more
on scientific methods and knowledge based on research, Every sphere of
daily life requires more and more persons who are familiar with science
and who can use their knowledge in the practice of their professions.
Education in the disciplined practice of science and scholarship is indispensable not only for those who wish to enter the academic profession,
but also for those who will enter the more practical professions.
The expansion of facilities for higher education has left many important
problems unsolved. Among these is the excessive length of the period
of study in many disciplines and the equally disquieting fact that many
students fail to complete their studies. Furthermore, in the most popular
subjects, many demands are made on the teachers which are injurious
both to their scholarship and their research. This situation is caused by
three factors: (1) the increasing demand for specialised scientific and
scholarly training; (2) the increasing specialisation and differentiation of
research; and (3) the increase in the number and the qualitative change in
the socially necessary tasks which require higher education.
Regarding the first factor: in 1950-51 there were 109,000 German and
2,000 foreign students; in 1955-56, there were about 123,000 German and
7,000 foreign students; in 1964--65, there were 229,000 German and 22,000
foreign students. From 1970 onwards the number of students will increase
again in consequence of the increase in the birth rate after 1950.4
Regarding the second factor: science and scholarship are becoming much
more intensively specialised, both substantively and methodologically. This
produces a serious situation in which the unity essential to a discipline is
eroded by the multiplicity of specialised and relatively independent subfields, as a result of which a research worker is no longer in a position
to render an expert judgement on what is going on in some other part of
his discipline. At the same time, there has been an increase in the
number of important problems which can be dealt with only by the
collaboration of various disciplines and by the use of highly specialised
research methods. Some of these specialised methods are often valid
beyond the specialised field in which they were developed. The conventional boundaries between the disciplines and substantive fields have
now become very fluid. The number of scientific publications has increased
steadily since the end of the nineteenth century, as is manifested by the
numerous and increasingly significant documentation and information
4 See Wissenschaftsrat, Abiturienten und Studenten. Entwicklung und Vorschiitzung der
Zahlen: 1950 his 1980 (Ttibingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1964), pp. 164, 11, 39 ft.
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services. This has led to a situation in which the literature in a field can
no longer be mastered by an individual scientist, to say nothing of a
student. These are a few of the essential features of present-day research.
The changes in the pattern of science and scholarship and in the tasks
which society and the state impose on them have serious implications for
research-based teaching and for courses of study. Until well into this
century, individual disciplines continued to be characterised by separateness and internal unity. Those whose studies would terminate in a state
or diploma examination followed the same course of study as those who
wished to take the doctorate and to "habilitate" for an academic career.
The former were not overburdened and the latter were adequately prepared
for a career in scientific or scholarly research, This is no longer possible.
Differentiation and specialisation require that those seeking a research or
research-related career should meet qualitatively different requirements in
their courses of study from those whose subsequent careers will not be
directly connected with research. There are, however, no criteria to
indicate which of the multifarious subjects which constitute a discipline
should be included in the course of study of those who do not intend to
follow a research or research-related career.
The translation of research into teaching, which is indispensable in view
of rapidly increasing specialisafion and the extension of various scientific
fields, is an unsolved problem in Germany, and it is a burden shared
equally b y the higher educational institutions and the students.
Furthermore, the structure, goals and tasks of the professions for which
universities prepare their students are clo~ly connected with structural
change in the scientific and scholarly disciplines. The pattern of the
professions is changing. In the state and in society there are tasks to be
done for which the universities provide no appropriate training. As a
result, the traditional association of the universities with the established
learned professions no longer corresponds to reality. In an earlier generation, there were courses of study which led to a clearly defined profession.
This simple filiation no longer obtains. For example, the once valid, older
image of the mathematician has changed very markedly--as has the scope
of his work--with the mathematisation of many sciences, the growth of
econometrics and the use of electronic computation in administration. In
this situation, the fixed links between courses of study, professional requirements and careers constitute a hindrance rather than an advantage. It is
now uncertain whether examinations should continue to be conducted
exclusively by state examining bodies; in some cases it might be more
appropriate to entrust them to professional bodies outside the university.
The upshot of this is that the standards for assessing training in
universities should no longer be determined by the requirements of the
traditional learned professions. New professions are emerging which
require training in higher educational institutions. There are others for
which it is really no longer necessary. For this reason it is desirable that
courses of study be redesigned and that in the process the diversified and
constantly changing distribution of occupational opportunities and the
emerging occupational structure should be taken into account.
University Re[orm in Germany
255
Implications ]or the Objectives of Higher Education
In view of the expansion of the functions of science and scholarship
it is clear that the hitherto prevailing view that there should be a single
course of study for all students in a discipline is no longer adequate. A
central problem is to define the objectives of training in higher educational
institutions. Two extreme positions are taken on this question. According
to one, it should be the aim of higher educational institutions to bring
students to a point where they can be independent collaborators in research.
According to the other view, for the vast majority of students training
should consist only of providing them with the intellectual foundations
which they will need for their post-university careers. It can be said of
the former alternative that it makes demands on students which are beyond
the talents and capacities of most of them and which uselessly overburden the teachers. The main argument against the second alternative is
that the objective is too low and it does not do justice to the functions
required of science, nor does it fulfil the needs of society for an increasing
number of persons equipped with more than the narrow, specialised
knowledge which is useful only in a particular profession.
The right solution lies in a differentiation of the objectives of training
and a correspondingly multi-graded pattern of courses of study. Within
the various sectors of this pattern all students should study for a specified
period, at the end of which there should be an examination which qualifies
successful candidates to enter a profession requiring corresponding qualifications. While the majority of students will leave the university on
completion of this stage of the course of study, those interested in and
capable of research will have the opportunity to undertake a further stage
of training which will develop their abilities. In the past, courses of study
in the universities were intended to train students for independent research.
It is now necessary to rearrange this pattern to meet the needs of those who
do not wish to follow a research career, without slighting the ambitions and
capacities of those who wish to pursue an intellectual, academic career.
In constructing the new pattern, care must be taken to ensure that it
is not subject to the pressure of the demand for independent participation
in research; equally, we must ensure that it is not restricted to the mere
transmission of knowledge and vocational training. It may be defined
as education for independent critical thinking through the use of scientific
knowledge.
The aim must be for the student to acquire the knowledge which is
required by his discipline and which is necessary for the practice of his
profession. As he is obliged to familiarise himself with the methods and
techniques of scientific research in his subject, he will acquire experience
of the way in which work is done in his discipline, and he will come to
know what disciplined scientific or scholarly knowledge is and what it can
accomplish. He must also learn that, in principle, science and scholarship
are open and ongoing undertakings: He should be able to examine critically
standpoints alien to his own, to raise questions about his own standpoint,
as well as to reply to criticisms of his standpoint by others. To the degree
that he will be able to do this, the student will have progressed from passive
receptivity to freedom, i.e., to a disciplined intellectual independence.
Reports and Documents
256
From this definition of the aims of university education it is clear that,
however long the period of study, the university cannot provide the student
with a body of definitive scientific or scholarly knowledge which will equip
him throughout his life. For this reason, those who have graduated from
universities and who become active in their professions should be able, as
their professional activity requires, to renew contact with science or
scholarship. Such further study will help those who take advantage of it
to become familiar with new modes of formulating problems and new
techniques, and will also permit them to benefit from more recently
discovered scientific knowledge.
This type of education is possible only in a university in which research
and teaching have been closely linked. If the pressure of existing difficulties
makes the maintenance of this unity difficult or impossible, then the
conditions for the progress and even for the survival of modern society
will be damaged. The unity of research and teaching, however, can only
be maintained if the necessary conditions are provided.
These observations provide the background of the following recommendations for the redesign of courses of study. Their realisation will
require the alteration and even the renunciation of many time-honoured
ideas. They will also require great exertions by the universities and the
state.
THE CONSTELLATION OF COURSES OF STUDY
The Science Council proposes the following threefold classification of the
educational functions of universities: (1) a common course of study for
all students, concluding with an examination which confirms professional
capacities; (2) training for students who are interested in and capable of
research; (3) "refresher" studies which offer to university graduates,
already active in their professions, the opportunity to refresh their scientific
knowledge and bring it up to the most advanced level of scientific
development.
The Science Council recognises that situations vary, not only among
different faculties but also among the particular disciplines within the
faculty. For this reason, there cannot be any single set of requirements to
apply equally in all disciplines. Nonetheless, however different the
disciplines may be from each other, they have certain common features
making it possible to construct a model of a set of requirements (Studienordnung) for the university as a whole. The adaptation of this model to
the particular exigencies of the various disciplines and faculties will be left
to the individual disciplines and faculties.
Tire Organisation of Studies
The uncertainty with which a large proportion of students confront what
is offered to them in higher educational institutions is one unsatisfactory
feature of the present situation. This is especially true at the beginning,
but it often continues into later semesters and occasionally to the very
end of a student's career at the university. In many respects, this has to
do with the change in attitude towards studies and professions. Again,
University Reform in Germany
257
the situation does vary in different faculties and disciplines, some of which
have, for quite a long time, been providing orientation and guidance. The
introduction of a detailed set of requirements applicable to all disciplines
would not be of much help. The present situation arises in part from one
of the fundamental principles of German universities, i.e., the tradition
of leaving to the student the responsibility for planning and arranging his
own course of study. The great achievements of the German universities
in the past were attributable to this principle, but it was applicable only in
the conditions under which it arose. In the twentieth century an
irreversible change has taken place, with the result that it has become a
hindrance instead of a stimulus as it once was. It is no longer a question
of deciding on restrictions to be placed on the student's freedom to plan
his own studies; rather it should be asked what validity this traditional
principle still possesses. The combination of the principle of individual
responsibility and the excessive demands of university education has
contributed not a little to the student's insecurity. A realistic definition
of the aims of university education should be accompanied by a demarcation of the limits of the student's responsibilities. Effective guidance
throughout the first semester is necessary in order both to reduce losses
due to friction and to guarantee the maintenance of a high intellectual
standard. To this end, the Science Council recommends:
Individual counselling: Every student at the first stage of his studies
should receive individual guidance from a member of the teaching staff.
This guidance should be obligatory, and should deal with the planning of
the student's studies and extend to, but not go beyond, questions relating to
the student's progress.
The counsellors should follow up the effectiveness of their counsel in
conversations with the student each semester. For this to succeed, the
number of students assigned to each counsellor should be kept as small
as possible. Counselling should not replace contact with full professors;
both "habilitated" and "non-habilitated" persons should be charged
with counselling responsibilities in every discipline. The coordination and
assignment of the counsellors and instruction in their tasks should be
entrusted by the faculty to the appointed professor in each discipline.
Cooperation with the academic vocational guidance service would be
desirable and useful in many instances.
Small groups: The number of participants in pro-seminars, seminars and
in related teaching arrangements should be limited so as to allow for the
active participation of each student. When seminars are overcrowded, it is
not so much the most talented who suffer as those who are moderately
gifted and, particularly, those who are beginning their studies, since the
latter are most in need of leadership and supervision. For this reason,
it is especially important to form small working groups in the first phase of
any course of study.
Study plans: Study plans should be worked out for each discipline and
should contain a list of those subjects which are obligatory. The intention
should not be to provide the student with a programme of s~udies worked
out in every detail. The important thing is that the student should know
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what is expected of him at each stage of his studies and what opportunities
for instruction exist to help him meet the requirements.
Intermediate examinations: There should be an intermediate examination
between the first and second stage of the student's course which will enable
both the student and the teachers to evaluate his progress. (Many universities have already made such arrangements or are planning to do so.)
German universities, unlike those in other countries, do not ordinarily
attempt to assess the student's capacities for the course which he is
undertaking or for his entry into a particular discipline. Moreover, once
a course of study has been undertaken, there are few opportunities for the
vast majority of students, particularly in the so-called "mass disciplines ",
to find out what progress they are making through compulsory examinations; as a result, everything is postponed until the final examination. The
risk taken by the student when he enters upon a course of study is
justified by the high value of academic freedom. Although this procedure
was satisfactory in the past, it cannot be allowed to operate under present
conditions.
An intermediate examination would not only aim to redirect into other
paths students who are not qualified for the discipline which they have
chosen, but also to provide evidence of the demands and requirements
placed on students. It should be an introduction to the second, freer stage
of studies. It should also open the way to the main seminars. The
faculties should issue examination regulations for the intermediate examination in those disciplines which require state authorisation, so that legal
requirements may be met. No grades should be awarded for the intermediate examination; students would either pass or fail. It should be
established as a general rule that intermediate examinations are reciprocally
acknowledged by all universities.
in order to provide sufficient opportunity for more independent study in
the second stage, the intermediate examination should take place as early
as possible. Requirements will vary from discipline to discipline, but
the examination should be taken at the end of the second year of study, at
the very latest.
The intermediate examination has been criticised on the grounds that
it disrupts the continuous growth and process of maturation of the student
and leads him from the very beginning to concentrate only on the coming
examination; these critics recommend "continuous assessment" instead.
The Science Council does not underestimate the weight of this argument,
but it is of the view that as long as the intermediate examination is oriented
towards existing teaching arrangements and does not aim at a more or
less encyclopedic coverage of the subject, it will not distract the student
away from scientific or scholarly modes of study, indeed, it will help in
that direction.
The Science Council is of the opinion that the implementation of its
recommendations will help the student to make more intensive, continuous
and direct progress in his course. It recognises, however, that in order to
adapt the courses of study to the reformulated objectives of higher education, other measures, which cut across these recommendations, will be
required. More rigorous organisation will be able to serve the new
University Reform in Germany
259
objectives only if, at the same time, the content of the courses of study is
adapted to these aims and is accerdingly delimited. To facilitate this,
the following measures are recommended:
Examination material: The extent of the material to be covered in the
examination should be specified. Obligatory material should be limited to
what is most essential. It should not exceed the powers and capacities of
the students. The development of research, the expansion and differentiation of the various fields of research and the refinement of techniques, the
unprecedented increase in the quantity of scientific publications, all require
that obligatory material should be limited if the course of study is not
simply to result in a superficial polymathism and in wasted effort in the
pursuit of an unattainable many-sidedness. Material to be covered should
be selected in accordance with the objectives of the course. It should be
presented in such a way that the student learns what his discipline has
to offer for his prospective profession, and thereby obtains an example of
what scientific knowledge really is.
By concentrating on what is essential, the student will be prevented
from spending his time in acquiring a very fragmented collection of
specialised fields within his discipline.
Compulsory instruction: Compulsory instruction should be limited. The
number of classes which a student is obliged to attend, in both stages of
his course, should be restricted. This will enable him to adhere to the
educational objectives of his course and also leave him enough leisure to
attend lectures and seminars of his own choice. Although this is generally
agreed upon in principle, the number of obligatory, and even more of
quasi-obligatory, classes and lectures in individual disciplines is in fact
increasing rather than decreasing. For this reason, the nature and number
of compulsory lectures and seminars for the discipline and for the faculty
should be dearly indicated in the study plans. Care must also be taken
to see that internal regulations do not erode this delimitation.
Studies and practical training: The universities must provide scientific
training. Practical training for particular professions cannot as a rule be
undertaken by the universities. Universities should ensure that when all
the student's time and energy are taken up by his academic education, he
is not also required by other authorities to perform the practical exercises
required by his future profession. If these two forms of training intermingle, the universities will not be able to fulfil their tasks.
Those who will employ university graduates are entitled to set certain
requirements with respect to the amount and level of academic training
required. Where such demands are excessive, the result will be an
intolerable burden on the student and on the university. This is the case,
for example, when intending Gymnasium teachers are required to study
three disciplines. A similar case occurs in the economic sphere, when the
completion of a Ph.D. is required, although normally a diploma or
certificate would be sufficient evidence of competence.
If courses of study were more rigorously organised, and the material to
be covered in the light of educational objectives were specified, students
would be able to take part in the research of their teachers. This would
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also enable the universities effectively to maintain the unity of teaching
and research and render the combination effective in training their students.
The Science Council is well aware that the successful implementation
of its recommendations depends on how the plans of study are conceived
and how they are handled in practice. It would be desirable for the various
universities to coordinate their plans of study for the respective disciplines.
Such reciprocal recognition of plans of study and intermediate examinations is necessary if students are to be free, as in the past, to move from
one university to another. The Science Council considers that this freedom
of movement is not only permissible but desirable, with the following
reservation: intermediate examinations can fully serve their purpose only
if students spend their entire first stage of studies at the same university.
Movement between universities, therefore, should generally be reserved
for the second stage when the student will be in the position to derive proper
benefits from such a change.
COMPLETION OF STUDIES
A student has completed his studies when he takes the state examination,
the diploma examination, or the master's examination (Magisterexamen).
An examination is by definition a test of what has gone before, not an
entrance test for any particular career. It can be the latter only when the
course of study is also a preparation for a particular profession. This
does not mean that the material covered by an examination should be
confined to the requirements of the profession. It does mean that the
university teachers who are responsible for academic training bear the
burden of the examination even when it takes place in accordance with
state examination regulations and under the supervision of the state.
All this must be worked out in the examination regulations. The Science
Council is well aware that every examination influences students, partly
through influencing the emphasis which examinees accord to different
parts of the subject. The realisation of a new pattern for courses of study
rests in large measure on the content of the examination regulations. If
the latter are to serve the new conception of the courses of study, the
excessive demands of the existing examination regulations must be avoided
and the regulations fundamentally revised.
The bodies responsible for the disciplines will have the task of devising
new examination regulations for each particular discipline. In view of the
close connection between the courses of study and examination regulations,
the regulations for state examinations should be agreed upon between the
ministries and the universities, with the relevant faculties having the right
of consultation in the matter.
Practice Examinations
There has been a tendency recently to make examination requirements
less stringent. The deletions which have been made constitute, however,
a painful acknowledgement of the limited capacities of understanding of
students rather than anything else. The limits of the attainable are sought
against a standard derived from an ideal of a fully rounded scientific
University Reform in Germany
261
training. Although it has been accepted that the examinee cannot have
mastered all the sub-fields of his discipline, it is still expected that he should
know as many of them as possible. If the objectives of education are
reformulated along the lines proposed in these recommendations, other
criteria will be applied in final examinations. Examination results and the
objectives of education should correspond to each other. Accordingly,
the aim should not be to cover the largest possible body of material, but
to concentrate on selected, delimited substantive areas in which the
examinee may show that he has in the course of his studies properly
developed his intellectual abilities. The model of education which does
not demand a maximal adduction of mastered factual knowledge but
which emphasises practice and an easy familiarity with a scientific way of
thinking requires practice examinations.
Externally Written and Experimental Exercises
Particular attention should be given to the use of externally written and
experimental exercises, as required in final examinations in many disciplines
together with oral examinations and supervised written examinations. The
value of such exercises should be assessed in the light of the objectives of
the course of study. If the objective is not independent cooperation in
research, the performance must be judged by appropriate standards. The
exercise should not be regarded as a contribution to research, but as an
opportunity for the student to show his capacity for the systematic application of his knowledge in working on a limited problem. Thus it is
necessary to put a time limit on the performance of the task, and the time
specified should be as short as possible. In many disciplines the length
of time required usually stands in a rather questionable relationship to the
weight the exercise has in the examination. Experience in a number of
disciplines shows that an externally written exercise which has been given
a good mark does not always compensate for a poor performance in the
oral examination and in the supervised written examination.
It should, therefore, be considered whether externally written exercises
should not, in the disciplines in question, be replaced by supplementary
examinations written under supervision. Where this does not appear
feasible, and where it seems reasonable that the student should be given the
opportunity to develop a particular theme in a fundamental way and to
present the results in an appropriate form, it should be left to the respon.
sible representative of the discipline and the examiners to decide whether
a good written seminar report, or a similar piece of work done during
the vacation, should be regarded for examination purposes as the equivalent
of an externally written exercise. This should also be a stimulus to
particularly talented students.
As far as this kind of student is concerned, regulations should be
provided which enable them to complete their studies in as short a time
as possible.
Philosophical and Pedagogical Examinations for Candidates for Teaching
Posts
In its deliberations regarding courses of study, the Science Council
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considered the retention of the philosophical preliminary examination
(Philosophikum), an examination which candidates for secondary school
appointments must take according to present examination regulations.
However desirable it may be that all students--not only future teachers-should be concerned with philosophical questions and particularly with
the philosophical foundations of the disciplines in which they are studying,
the council is not convinced that a compulsory examination in philosophy
is an appropriate means to this end. On the basis of the numerous
arguments against the retention of the Philosophikum, the Science Council
recommends that it be replaced by evidence of participation in lectures, etc.,
in philosophical studies, as a precondition for admission to the final
examinations.
The practical pedagogical training of future teachers has a legitimate
and indispensable place in the probationary period (Re[erendarzeit) which
follows university studies and which culminates in an examination of its
own. During their course of studies, candidates for secondary school
appointments should study educational science. Appropriate assessment
of successful performances in this subject should be worked out by the
faculties in collaboration with the cultural ministries of the states. The
continuity of the students' work should not be interrupted by a supplementary preliminary examination in educational science.
THE DURATION OF COURSES
For some time universities have been concerned to shorten the period
of study. Measures have been taken to counteract the tendency towards
an extension of the period of study, and we would refer in this connection
to the recommendations of the West German Rectors' Conference on the
overcrowding of universities and the shortening of the period of study,
which dealt also with the better utilisation of teaching resources and a
more efficient use of students' time not spent attending classes and
lectures. ~
Apprehensions about dirigisme which, in overcoming certain defects
would infringe academic freedom and in general do more harm than
good, have stood in the way of more decisive action in these matters.
As a result, recommendations are made which are hedged about with
qualifications and which are, not incorrectly, regarded as external and
mechanical makeshifts which cannot be fundamentally justified and which
have been only hesitantly undertaken. As long as universities, as hitherto,
allow students to plan their own courses of study and make up their
programmes on their own responsibility, and as long as they insist on
adhering to the traditional objectives of education for all students, efforts
to shorten the period of study will be regarded as an arbitrary intrusion,
to be undertaken only with a bad conscience.
The Science Council has not considered the shortening of the period of
study as its chief concern. In its view, the lengthening of the period
of study is one of the numerous symptoms of the profound disturbance
Westdeutsche Rektorenkonferenz, Berlin, 7 February, 1964 (LI/3f II), Schwarze He/re,
Stiick 86 (1964).
University Reqorm in Germany
263
in the relationship between teaching and research. The universities are
suffering and will continue to suffer until they bring their tasks and conceptions of the objectives of education into a proper relationship and into
harmony with reality. For this reason, the chief concern of the Science
Council was the question of the objectives of education and of particular
courses of study. If this end is pursued as recommended, it will also be
possible to limit the period of study without introducing compulsory
measures which are alien to the nature of the subject. The various study
group.s created by the Science Council for the preparation of recommendations concluded that in the majority of disciplines there should be a
maximum period of study of four years. Students should not be overworked, but it should be made clear to them that there is a certain
appropriate content and objective for every course of study, just as there
is for every course of training. Universities and society should be concerned
with this limit, and not only in their own interest. Students also have the
right not to be kept longer in a preparatory phase of life than is absolutely
necessary; they should not be prevented from entering the stage of
independence for which their education is a preparation.
No requirement should be so rigidly prescribed as to do injustice to
students of superior talent, who should be able to meet requirements in
a shorter time.
The general proposal of four years for a course of study does not mean
that in some particular courses the requirements should not be met in a
shorter time. Where the course can normally be completed in a shorter
time, this should be specified in the requirements. This is true, for
example, in pharmacy and law, where a shorter period than four years
is quite sufficient.
A number of special questions arise in connection with the limitation on
the period of study. For example, there are situations where the secondary
schools have not sufficiently prepared their students for the study of certain
disciplines. Another question is whether time spent studying in foreign
universities should count as part of the period of study, and so on. The
Science Council has dealt with these problems as follows:
Basic knowledge: Basic knowledge which is required for the study of
certain disciplines should, if the student does not already possess it, be
acquired during the first year of study. Evidence of this should be provided
at the end of the year. Provision should be made for teaching to meet
the needs of students for this basic knowledge; this teaching should take
place at times not scheduled for regular lectures. Language courses should
be separated from philology and taught independently. These rules are
especially relevant to foreign students. If the amount of additional basic
knowledge which has to be acquired is so great that it cannot be done
together with regular studies during the first year, then it should be
required before entrance to university studies.
Studies in foreign universities and changes of university: Time spent
studying at foreign universities should be regarded as part of the normal
period of study at university, and not a s something additional to the
four-year requirement. Foreign studies, whether indispensable--as in
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the case of modern languages and literature--or not, should be encouraged
and should not be made more difficult by regulations governing the length
of the period of study. Like movement from one university to another,
foreign studies should be confined to the second stage of studies. In
certain cases, where good reasons can be given, students who have undertaken studies abroad may have the duration of their course lengthened
by a semester or at the most by a year.
Changes in faculty and discipline: The new organisation of studies
should not hinder the free development of the student's talents. Thus a
reasonable decision to change faculty or discipline should be respected.
In such a case, the question arises of whether the previous period of study
should be regarded as part of the whole. A change of discipline during
the second stage of studies and two changes of discipline should be
regarded as rare exceptions requiring special authorisation.
The Science Council recommends that decisions on individual cases
should be the responsibility of the dean of studies. The dean of studies
should be appointed by each faculty from among its full professors
and should be assisted by a full-time associate. The dean of studies should
also be responsible for the coordination of student counselling in his faculty.
SPECIALISED SCIENTIFIC TRAINING
Organisation
In recent developments in the universities, teaching has come more and
more to play a dominant role and research has increasingly tended to be
pushed aside. Indeed it has all but been pushed out of the universities
altogether. The Science Council regards this tendency as dangerous
not only for the universities but for science as a whole. Teaching and
research in the universities should once more be brought into equilibrium
and this new equilibrium should be institutionalised so that it may become
stable. The organisation of research training can allow research to
reoccupy its central position in the university. At the second stage,
teaching which is oriented towards research has primacy, while at the
level of research training, research ,makes use of the teaching which has
been based on it. It would therefore be a mistake to regard research
training as just an arbitrary lengthening of the course of study.
Research training serves to deepen the knowledge gained at the preceding
stages. It brings students into closer contact with research than other kinds
of study can do. The teaching arrangements for research training give
students the opportunity to participate directly in research. Special lectures,
seminars, colloquia, experimental work become, therefore, part of the
teaching arrangements which correspond best to the needs of research
training. This does not require the student to do an independent piece
of research, but he should be encouraged and stimulated to do so. An
original contribution to research in the form of a dissertation need not
be the rule, although it should not be an ,exception.
Such training will permit a deeper study, but it should go further.
Mastery of a conventional discipline is not necessarily a prerequisite for
participation in certain new developments in scientific research; con-
University Reform in Germany
265
sequently, the combination of scientific training in different disciplines
becomes all the more urgent. This should be encouraged not only between
disciplines within a single faculty, but also between faculties. Research
training can thus serve to supplement previous studies in a discipline.
Furthermore, this should not be regarded as a contradiction of its function
of deepening understanding in a discipline studied previously. There
should be no institutional separation of research training into "deepening"
and "supplementary" studies. It is not possible to determine in advance
the function of research training; this can be discovered only in the course
of time. Because all sorts of combinations of disciplinary and interdisciplinary training are necessary, the teaching arrangements at the level
of research training should be greatly differentiated.
Admission to Research Training
Special admission should be required for research training. A prerequisite
must be completion of studies in one of the prescribed forms; the student's
results should be good enough to indicate that he will be able to meet the
requirements of research training. If the student's examination results are
not at least "good ", admission should depend on the teaching staff
concerned.
A formal decision on the part of the student to undertake research
training should be a precondition for admission; this should be adhered
to as a fundamental principle. Final examinations should provide evidence
that training in the earlier stages has been of sufficient disciplinary breadth;
it should not have been prematurely narrowed with a view to the selection
of a dissertation subject. The formal conclusion of studies at the second
stage would be a sort of protection for those who do not bring their
research training to a successful conclusion.
The objection has been made that there are certain disciplines, especially
in the philosophical faculty, in which the only true indication of completion
of studies is the doctorate. Since the introduction of the examination for
the master's degree, this argument has lost its force. The master's degree,
which has the same standing as the state and diploma examinations,
permits these disciplines, too, to introduce a four-year course of study
and a concluding period of research training. Another argument against
the requirement of comple~ion of studies in four years prior to research
training is that it is a handicap to the highly talented and holds them back
unnecessarily. This is a serious objection, but even the most highly
talented cannot be exempted from the necessary basic scientific or scholarly
training; they too, by means of examinations, must provide proof of
successful study. This difficulty can be dealt with, in those courses of study
which culminate neither in a state examination nor in a diploma examination, by substituting admission to doctoral studies by the decision of the
faculty in question for the required examination (master's examination) at
the end of the second stage. This admission would then be the equivalent
of admission to research training.
Quite apart from the organisation of research training, opportunities
will continue to exist for those who prepare dissertations outside the
university to be admitted to the doctorate.
266
Reports and Documents
Since research training does not necessarily culminate in the award of
the doctorate, it remains to be seen what other form of qualification it can
lead to apart from the doctorate. It has been suggested that there should
be a new type of academic degree granted on the basis of an examination.
The advantage of this solution is that research training would culminate
in a similar manner to other courses of study, both in form and procedure.
This solution, however, is not to be recommended. Apart from the
additional burden on all those involved, a new examination would have
the undesirable consequence of dividing those in research training into
two groups: one group preparing for the examination, the other working
for the doctorate.
In the interest of smooth progress in a course of study, there should be
no examination as an alternative to the doctorate. Of course, successful
participation in research training must receive demonstrable recognition.
It is, therefore, recommended that successful participation in research
studies should be attested by a certificate which would constitute a special
professional qualification.
It is most urgent that young persons be trained for university teaching.
Those who complete research training should be available for recruitment
to teaching and research. There are other professions, too, for which
intensive research and scientific training would be beneficial. Appropriate
employment opportunities will need to be found for those who complete
their research training. The professional success of those who have undertaken research training will determine whether such training will help
provide better educated persons for the practical professions in state and
society, quite apart from the service which they will render to science and
scholarship. If this is successful, the absorption of these persons can
contribute to the opening up of a careers system in public service to persons
with special qualifications.
Duration
The duration of research training should be limited to two years. Where
the award of the doctorate is expected in the foreseeable future, then the
time limit may be suspended.
Research training should be included within the scheme of student
financial support.
Refresher Studies
Although students should leave the university after the completion of
four years of study, their training cannot be regarded as definitive and
complete. The rapid development of scientific knowledge renders it
necessary to have further training in many fields. While the present system
of courses of study of unlimited duration persists, this would not be
feasible. The renewal of scientific knowledge presupposes that those who
are active professionally will come back to the university and be assimilated
once more into its intellectual activities. The university must make the
necessary provision for this. There will of course be marked variations
in different fields of science and the different related professions as to the
University Reform in Germany
267
duration, periodicity and forms appropriate to this refresher training.
Detailed recommendations cannot yet be made for refresher training. All
those who participate in the various disciplines and professions should
examine what is desirable and possible and come to some agreement on
what should be done.
MEASURES TO IMPLEMENT THE RECOMMENDATIONS
More working space for teachers and students is necessary in the
universities; the physical expansion of the university is therefore a matter
of urgency. The reorganisation of courses of study will require additional
resources and personnel. An estimate should be made of the numbers
of academic and other personnel and the resources which would be
necessary to implement the new study plans and working conditions. There
will, of course, be great variations between the different disciplines. 6
Additional investments will be required in the universities if training
is to be improved, if new working space is to be provided and if the
shortening of the period of study is to be effected. Detailed analyses
of the requirements of personnel and resources will be necessary for the
different disciplines. For some time, at least, there will be a worrying
shortage of personnel.
In this connection, it might be feasible to engage the students who are
working in research training in some teaching of the small student groups
during their first semester. This should, however, be done on a very
restricted scale. The time spent by the research student in preparing and
carrying out such a teaching programme might well be compensated by
the gains ensuing from the more intensive preoccupation with his field,
but this will only be the case if the topics which he teaches are carefully
chosen. In this way, the research student would learn by teaching.
It is important that the new proposals on the reorganisation of courses
of study should be related to the recommendations of the Science Council
on the reorganisation of university teaching staff. ~ It is particularly
important that the professors should play a direct part in the training of
those embarking upon their academic careers by participating in the
appropriate teaching arrangements?
6 A clue to the differences in demands for resources might be indicated by certain
figures on the ratio of students to teachers in 1964. In general, there were 14 students to
1 academic staff member. In chemistry, the ratio was 6: 1 ; in mining, 7 : 1 ; physics, 8 : 1 ;
electro-technology, 17 : 1 ; romance languages and literature, 21 : 1 ; law, 22 : 1 ; economics
and social sciences, 29:1.
Emplehlungen des Wissenschaftrates zur Neugliederung des Lehrk6rpers an den
wissenschaftlichen Hochschulen (T~ibingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1965). Summarised
as " Recommendations of the Science Council on the Reorganisation of University
Teaching Staffs in Western Germany " in Minerva, IV, 2 (Winter, 1966), pp. 246-253.
s Detailed recommendations of an illustrative character are provided for courses of
study in chemistry, pp. 39--48; electro-technology, pp. 49-54; Germanic languages and
literature, pp. 55-59 and medicine, pp. 60-75. [Editor.]
A Plea for Pure Science
Author(s): H. A. Rowland
Source: Science, Vol. 2, No. 29 (Aug. 24, 1883), pp. 242-250
Published by: American Association for the Advancement of Science
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242
SCIENCE.
PROCEEDINGS
OF SECTION
OF BALADDRESS
OF H. A. ROWLANd
OF
VICE-PRESIDENT
TIMORE,
MD.,
SECTION
B, AUG. 15, 1883.
A PLEA FOR PURE SCIENCE.1
question is sometimes asked us as to the time
of year we like the best. To my mind, the spring is
the most delightful; for nature then recovers from
the apathy of winter, and stirs herself to renewed
life. The leaves grow, and the buds open, with a
suggestion of vigor delightful to behold; and we
revel in this ever-renewed life of nature. But this
cannot always last. The leaves reach their limit;
the buds open to the full, and pass away. Then we
begin to ask ourselves whether all this display has
been in vain, or whether it has led to a bountiful
harvest.
So this magnificent country of ours has rivalled the
vigor of spring in its growth. Forests have been
levelled, and cities built, and a large and powerful
nation has been created on the face of the earth.
We are proud of our advancement. We are proud of
such cities as this, founded in a day upon a spot over
which, but a few years since, the red man hunted the
buffalo. But we must remember that this is only the
spring of our country. Our glance must not be backward; for however beautiful leaves and blossoms are,
and however marvellous their rapid increase, they are
but leaves and blossoms after all. Rather should we
look forward to discover what will be the outcome of
all this, and what the chance of harvest. For if we
do this in time, we may discover the worm which
threatens the ripe fruit, or the barren spot where the
harvest is withering for want of water.
I am required to address the so-called physical
section of this association. Fain would I speak pleasant words to you on this subject; fain would I recount to you the progress made in this subject by my
countrymen, and their noble efforts to understand
the order of the universe. But I go out to gather
the grain ripe to the harvest, and I find only tares.
Here and there a noble head of grain rises above the
weeds; but so few are they, that I find the majority
of my countrymen know them not, but think that
they have a waving harvest, while it is only one of
weeds after all. American science is a thing of the
future, and not of the present or past; and the proper course of one in my position is to consider what
must be done to create a science of physics in this
country, rather than to call telegraphs, electric lights,
and such conveniences, by the name of science. I do
not wish to underrate the value of all these things:
the progress of the world depends on them, and he is
to be honored who cultivates tliern successfully. So
also the cook who invents a new and palatable dish
for the table benefits the world to a certain deTIHE
1 In using the word science,' I refer to physical science; as I
know nothing of natural science.
Probably my remarks will,
however, apply to both, but I do not know,
[OL.
B. -
II., No. 29.
PHYSICS.
gree; yet we do not dignify him by the name of a
chemist. And yet it is not an uncommon thing,
especially in American newspapers, to have the applications of science confounded with pure science;
and some obscure American who steals the ideas of
some great mind of the past, and enriches himself
by the application of the same to domestic uses, is
often lauded above the great originator of the idea,
who might have worked out hundreds of such applications, had his mind possessed tile necessary element of vulgarity. I have often been asked, which
was the more important to the world, pure or applied
science. To have the applications of a science, the
science itself must exist. Should we stop its progress, and attend only to its applications, we should
soon degenerate into a people like the Chinese, who
have made no progress for generations, because they
have been satisfied with the applications of science,
and have never. sought for reasons in what they have
done. The reasons constitute pure science. They
have known the application of gunpowder for centuries; and yet the reasons for its peculiar action, if
sought in the proper manner, would have developed
the science of chemistry, and even of physics, with
all their numerous applications. By contenting themselves with the fact that gunpowder will explode,
and seeking no farther, they have fallen behind in
the progress of the world; and we now regard this
oldest and most numerous of nations as only barbarians. And yet our own country is in this same
state. But we have done better; for we have taken
the science of the old world, and applied it to all our
uses, accepting it like the rain of heaven, without
asking whence it caine, or even acknowledging the
debt of gratitude we owe to the great and unselfish
workers who have given it to us. And, like the rain
of heaven, this pure science has fallen upon our
country, and made it great and rich and strong.
To a civilized nation of the present day, the applications of science are a necessity; and our country
has hitherto succeeded in this line, only for the reason
that there are certain countries in the world where
pure science has been and is cultivated, and where
the study of nature is considered a noble pursuit.
But such countries are rare, and those who wish to
pursue pure science in our own country must be
prepared to face public opinion in a manner which
requires much moral courage. They must be prepared
to be looked down upon by every successful inventor
whose shallow mind imagines that the only pursuit of
mankind is wealth, and that he who obtains most has
best succeeded in this world. Everybody can comprehend a million of money; but how few can comprehend any advance in scientific theory, especially
in its more abstruse portions! And this, I believe,
is one of the causes of the small number of persons
who have ever devoted themselves to work of the
higher order in any human pursuit. Man is a gregarious animal, and depends very much, for his happiness, on the sympathy of those around him; and it is
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AUGUST 24, 1883.]
SCIi
rare to find one with the courage to pursue his own
ideals in spite of his surroundings. In times past, men
were more isolated than at present, and each came in
contact with a fewer number of people. Hence that
time constitutes the period when the great sculptures,
paintings, and poems were produced. Each man's
mind was comparatively free to follow its own ideals,
and the results were the great and unique works of
the ancient masters.
To-day the railroad and the
telegraph, the books and newspapers, have united
each individual man with the rest of the world: instead of his mind being an individual, a thing apart
by itself, and unique, it has become so influenced by
the outer world, and so dependent upon it, that it
has lost its originality to a great extent. The man
who in times past would naturally have been in the
lowest depths of poverty, mentally and physically,
to-day measures tape behind a counter, and with
lordly air advises the naturally born genius how he
may best bring his outward appearance down to a
level with his own. A new idea he never had, but
he can at least cover his mental nakedness with ideas
imbibed from others. So the genius of the past soon
perceives that his higher ideas are too high to be
appreciated by the world: his mind is clipped down
to the standard form; every natural offshoot upwards
is repressed, until the man is no higher than his fellows. Hence the world, through the abundance of
its intercourse, is reduced to a level. What was
formerly a grand and magnificent landscape, with
mountains ascending above the clouds, and depths
whose gloom we cannot now appreciate, has become
serene and peaceful. The depths have been filled,
and the heights levelled, and the wavy harvests and
smoky factories cover the landscape.
As far as the average man is colcerned, the change
is for the better. The average life of man is far
pleasanter, and his mental condition better, than before. But we miss the vigor imparted by the mountains. We are tired of mediocrity, the curse of our
country. We are tired of seeing our artists reduced
to hirelings, and imploring congress to protect them
against foreign competition. We are tired of seeing
our countrymen take their science from abroad, and
boast that they here convert it into wealth. We are
tired of seeing our professors degrading their chairs
by the pursuit of applied science instead of pure
science; or sitting inactive while the whole world
is open to investigation; lingering by the wayside
while the problem of the universe remains unsolved.
We wish for something higher and nobler in this
country of mediocrity, for a mountain to relieve the
landscape of its monotony. We are surrounded with
mysteries, and have been created with minds to enjoy
and reason to aid in the unfolding of such mysteries.
Nature calls to us to study her, and our better feelings urge us in the same direction.
For generations there have been some few students
of science who have esteemed the study of nature the
most noble of pursuits. Some have been wealthy,
and some poor; but they have all had one thing in
common, - the love of nature and its laws. To these
few men the world owes all the progress due to ap-
NCE.
243
plied science, and yet very few ever received any
payment in this world for their labors.
Faraday, the great discoverer of the principle on
which all machines for electric lighting, electric railways, and the transmission of power, must rest, died
a poor man, although others and the whole world
have been enriched by his discoveries. And slch
must be the fate of the followers in his footsteps for
some time to come.
But there will be those in the future who will study
nature from pure love, and for thenm higher prizes
than any yet obtained are waiting. We have but
yet commenced our pursuit of science, and stand
upon the threshold wondering what there is within.
We explain the motion of the planet by the law of
gravitation; but who will explain how two bodies,
millions of miles apart, tend to go toward each other
with a certain force ?
We now weigh and measure electricity and electric
currents with as much ease as ordinary matter, yet
have we made any approach to an explanation of the
phenomenon of electricity ? Light is an undulatory
motion, and yet do we know what it is that undulates ? Heat is motion, yet do we know what it is
that moves ? Ordinary matter is a common substance, and yet who shall fathom the mystery of its
internal constitution ?
There is room for all in the work, and the race has
but commenced. The problems are not to be solved
in a momenet, but need the best work of the best
minds, for an indefinite time.
Shall our country be contented to stand by, while
other countries lead in the race ? Sliall we always
grovel in the dust, and pick up the crumbs which
fall ftom the rich man's table, considering ourselves
richer than he because we have more crumbs, while
we forget that he has the cake, which is the source of
all crumbs ? Shall we be swine, to whom the corn and
husks are of more value than the pearls? If I read
aright the signs of the times, I think we shall not
always be contented with our inferior position.
From looking down we have almost become blind,
but may recover. In a new country, the necessities
of life must be attended to first. The curse of Adam
is upon us all, and we must earn our bread.
But it is the mission of applied science to render
this easier for the whole world. There is a story
which I once read, which will illustrate the true position of applied science in the world. A boy, more
fond of reading than of work, was employed, in the
early days of the steam-engine, to turn the valve at
every stroke. Necessity was the mother of invention
in his case: his reading was disturbed by his work,
and he soon discovered that he might become free
from his work by so tying the valve to some movable portion of the engine, as to make it move its
own valve. So I consider that the true pursuit of
mankind is intellectual. The scientific study of nature in all its branches, of mathematics, of mankind
in its past and present, the pursuit of art, and the
cultivation of all that is great and noble in the world,
- these are the highest occupation of mankind. Commerce, the applicatioIns of science, the accumulation
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244
SCIE vNCE.
of wealth, are necessities which are a curse to those
witli high ideals, but a blessing to that portion of the
world which has neither the ability nor the taste for
higher pursuits.
As the applications of science multiply, living becomes easier, the wealth necessary for the purchase
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