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Whereas the economic impact of universities is undisputed, the social impact of universities remains vague. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether and how universities influence firms' social engagement. Based on survey data of more than 7,000 German firms, our results reveal that universities positively affect firms' social engagement mainly through teaching activities. Hence, our findings give impetus to a reinforcement of the university mission 'teaching' as a central lever for social change and increased social awareness as well as to a reorientation of the third university mission toward social needs. This paper thereby contributes to our understanding of the changing missions and values of universities and adds to the literature by exploring the underlying mechanisms of the social impact of universities. We conclude the paper with fruitful future avenues of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial mobility of students and academics as part of the internationalisation of higher education is becoming increasingly relevant in securing top-tier positions, especially within academia. While the number of doctoral candidates is rising, new positions are not created at the same rate, leading to scarcer career opportunities in academia and the need to develop alternative career paths. Previous studies have much focused on the connection between mobility and career development among junior academics in the STEM fields, but the significance of mobility for SSH PhD candidates and their career development remains unanswered. Does spatial mobility have any effects there, and if so, which? For this reason, this paper studied doctoral SSH candidates from Germany with mobility experiences in the Netherlands. The findings show that spatial mobility affects the perception of the PhD candidate's career in several, sometimes ambivalent ways. It shows that the experience of mobility narrows the planning to a career in academia, contributes to the informal learning process of the candidate, and expands the horizon for possible opportunities in academia. The perceived asset of mobility varies alongside the internationalisation of disciplines and whether the candidate plans to return to Germany or pursue an international career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employability has become one of the most important outcomes of higher education despite it being weakly conceptualised for the sector. The lack of an accepted conceptualisation to address students' and graduates' employability results in difficulties when comparing research findings and therefore in assessing quality in higher education provision. This paper addresses this gap in the conceptualisation of employability and adapts an established framework so that it aligns with the higher education sector. Employability is defined as 'the ability to find, keep and progress in graduate employment'. A holistic framework composed of four categories ('individual factors'; 'individual circumstances'; 'enabling support system'; 'labour market') is used to classify and measure employability. This allows for an understanding of how specific initiatives enhance the employability of students and graduates, and suggests ways to measure this impact. Also, the limitations of HEIs to impact students' employability are addressed using the framework. The examples of Germany and England show how differences in employability occur due to differences in the surrounding labour market. The paper concludes that in a complex and holistic discussion it is necessary to highlight the various indicators, including the labour market, which were used to report more nuanced aspects of employability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public policies focusing on the higher education landscape often pursue a paradigm shift among universities that may ultimately lead to the transformation towards entrepreneurial universities. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether a higher education policy-induced transformation significantly influenced regional high-technology entrepreneurship. We thereby focus on the German Excellence Initiative, a higher education policy intervention designed to foster and support the transformative change of German universities towards an entrepreneurial paradigm. Our results reveal that the German Excellence Initiative had a positive and significant impact on regional high-technology entrepreneurship. Our results further show that the higher the interaction with industry, the more conducive universities become for regional high-technology entrepreneurship. In addition, universities' overarching scientific focus decisively affects regional high-technology entrepreneurship. Based on our results, we conclude our paper by outlining implications for policy makers, high-technology entrepreneurs and university managers as well as present future avenues for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses two high-profile cases of alleged plagiarism in doctoral theses to discuss the debate on academic malpractice in the German context. The two cases received intense media attention which led to a hitherto unseen interrogation of academic standards in higher education and of the integrity of the research community. The paper analyses this debate and highlights structures and developments in German higher education that potentially explain academic malpractice. The focus of the analysis is on postgraduate education and the way doctoral supervisees are inducted by their supervisors into good academic practice. The paper also discusses the notion of ‘academic relativism’ regarding standards of academic practice that, while permissible in a certain era, are not acceptable today. Against this background, the paper argues in favour of a critical evaluation of the ways in which the German higher education sector has become the subject of narrowly defined aspects of performance management regimes, regulating institutions and incentivising researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the student experience of multidisciplinarity within the undergraduate Geography curriculum. It considers the drivers that have underpinned this development before considering the findings of research into student experiences in two universities in the south of England. The results suggest that most students view this development positively and recognize a number of advantages that it brings, citing expanded opportunities for learning, working with people from other disciplines, expansion of perspectives and perceived benefits to employability. However, for a minority this development is more problematic. The research points here to issues with specialist knowledge and disciplinary pedagogies, social issues within the classroom and class organization and some reservations regarding groupwork. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotions are present in all learning processes, including those in entrepreneurship education. In this paper, we investigate which kinds of emotions exist in entrepreneurship education at university and in which contexts they occur, and show how the concept of liminal spaces – spaces of transformation in which students encounter high degrees of uncertainty, while their potential for learning is maximised – can be used in order to understand the role of negative emotions for entrepreneurship education. Providing examples from courses on entrepreneurship for Engineering and Business Administration students at a German university, we are able to confirm findings of existing literature on the type and sources of emotions. Moreover, our findings suggest that reflection of students on emotional processes that involve the endurance of uncertainty contribute significantly to the achievement of learning outcomes and that – within the limits of existing learning cultures and guidelines for assessment – teachers can facilitate such processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobility is becoming a defining feature of today's globalising society. Individuals move for a variety of reasons, including finding employment or pursuing education. This paper focuses on the interrelationship between two different types of migrants who have all moved out of one specific country to another. It builds on the perceptions of Turkish graduates of German universities who moved cross-border recently to study in German universities, the self-styled 'New Wave Turks', to understand their place within the existing Turkish diaspora there. Although the existing Turkish diaspora in Germany is well researched, as is how diasporas can facilitate further mobility, the interaction between these newcomers and the existing Turkish diaspora in Germany has received little scholarly attention. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews with recent Turkish graduates of German universities, we explored how the existing diaspora provides support but also challenges for the newcomers, complicating their experiences. We argue that international student mobility led to the emergence of a new form of 'total diaspora' in Germany, comprising both the existing Turkish diaspora and newly joined Turkish graduates of German universities. Social media was instrumental for these newcomers in setting themselves apart within the total diaspora, allowing them to create their own community identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how engaging with the principles of inclusive research can enhance research studies that set out to understand the experiences of student teachers on initial teacher education programmes. It does so by describing the methodological development of an on-going study of student teachers' perspectives on working with diverse groups of learners in classrooms. This study, involving 340 student teachers at two universities (in Germany and England), has two broad aims: first, to build authentic learning opportunities that encourage student teachers to articulate, share and reflect on their developing professionalization regarding inclusive classroom practices; and second, to gather evidence from their emerging insights that can usefully inform the future work of teacher educators. Although the study does not ‘fit’ conventional views of inclusive research (not least because its participants are student teachers rather than people with learning disabilities) the paper explores how, and why, drawing on more participatory approaches has supported its overall aims. The benefits and difficulties of placing the perspectives, needs and interests of the student teachers at the centre of the research are examined, and the ethical challenges of aligning the values associated with inclusive education with those underpinning inclusive research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Higher education in Europe has undergone remarkable transformations over the last two decades. Germany is a very interesting case in point here. While the country was labeled as a laggard in the process, over the last decade the pace of higher education reforms in Germany has grown considerably. This paper will focus on the by now visible effects of these remarkable transformations, which have led to numerous consequences that go beyond the explicit intentions of policy-makers. Unintended consequences resulting from rapid institutional change will be discussed with regard to research, third-mission activities, and structural reforms concerning governance and organization. It can be assumed that, due to a variety of such unintended consequences, also in other European countries the next decade will be shaped by efforts aiming at reforming the reforms, re-regulating the significant changes brought about during the last two decades. The paper closes with a brief discussion of the necessary linkages to three related interdisciplinary research areas, from which both higher education research and policy-making will benefit, and a summary of the main points of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationalization impacts universities and changes their core missions. Consequently, many western universities adopted a business model approach to deal with opportunities and challenges internationalization poses to their missions. Resulting from increased scrutiny from the public and policy makers on the ability of universities to efficiently utilize public resources to achieve institutional missions, interest is growing to analyze this development and its effects upon the university business model. This paper's purpose is to examine and evaluate how internationalization within the university mission impacts the university business model. Using a sample of German universities, this study develops a unique, three-stage, mathematical analysis to investigate this connection. By determining the internationalization and overall efficiencies of each institution relative to peers in the dataset, it is found that no direct correlation between the relative internationalization and overall institutional efficiencies exists, while also evidencing the usefulness of efficiency analysis in allocating resources for internationalization and overall university mission achievement. These results show that while the relative efficiency of internationalization may contribute to a university's overall relative efficiency, other components in the university business model may also be critical in determining overall relative efficiency, and the interplay of these components should be investigated in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Case studies are central to the way management is currently taught at universities. Among other benefits attributed to the case study method is that it promotes networked thinking by learners. Networked thinking takes account of interactions and repercussions, making it crucial to decision-making within the complex system of rules that shapes current business reality. However, there is virtually no empirical evidence of the extent to which the case study method actually delivers the advantages attributed to it. This paper aims to remedy that gap in the literature. The paper considers the extent to which the case study method promotes networked thinking on the part of students on business and management courses. The research is designed as an intervention study involving pre- and post-testing. The study finds that students who have worked on a case study correctly identify more interactions in post-testing than in pre-testing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

[ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we focus on the institutionalization of transdisciplinarity (TD) in higher education institutions and how they institutionalize Transdisciplinarity (TD). As such, universities have engaged in different activities to enact TD policies that aim at incorporating TD in their research and teaching. We take the Methodology Center at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg as a case study. We analyze the institutionalization process of TD to shed light on the obstacles that TD faces to become a widespread policy and practice at universities. In adopting a neo-institutionalist approach in our research, we develop a two-level analysis that allow us to compare the formal characteristics given to TD policies with the actual TD practices taking place in universities. Our findings reveal that TD institutionalization at the Methodology Center is at a mid-level and that overall TD institutionalization is an iterative process, in which the two levels mutually can reinforce or hinder each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the transition from higher education to work in comparative perspective has attracted increasing attention from scholars and practitioners alike. Previous studies reveal similarities and differences in labour market outcomes across countries, but explanatory frameworks mainly refer to fields of study, whereas differences by types of institutions and types of degrees remain largely descriptive. Therefore, this paper specifically focuses on these institutional structures by arguing that the institutional stratification of higher education systems is crucial for shaping graduate employment prospects. More specifically, it is assumed that the higher the vertical differentiation of types of institutions or types of degrees, the stronger the differences of employment outcomes. This assumption is tested empirically by analysing two country cases most different in the institutional set-up of their higher education systems: Germany and Britain. By applying hazard models to the German Socio-Economic Panel and two British cohort studies (NCDS and BCS70), the paper shows that the vertical differentiation of British higher education institutions and degrees differentiates the transitions to the service class more strongly than in Germany. Thus, for understanding transition patterns from higher education to work in comparative perspective, it is necessary to take into account the institutional structure of higher education systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines to what extent the participation of researchers in transnational academic mobility, their experiences and perceived outcomes vary by gender. Based on longitudinal statistics, original survey data and semi-structured interviews with former visiting researchers in Germany, the paper shows that the academic world of female researchers tends to be less international than that of their male colleagues, particularly in the natural sciences. This situation has improved since the 1980s but significant variations remain by source country, subject, career stage and length of stay. The paper argues that the underlying reasons go far beyond direct gender relationships and suggests that conceptualising transnational academic mobility as an integral part of mobilisation processes in Latourian 'centres of calculation' underlines the need for making this experience accessible to the widest possible range of researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a numerical exploration of the following. Assume, in the European Union context, that decision-makers want to spend more on higher education via higher tuition fees, but also want payments to be deferred and income-contingent. There are several possible ways to achieve this. First, ask graduates to repay a fixed amount each year if their current net income is above a certain threshold - income-contingent loans (ICL). Second, ask former students to repay a fixed proportion of their income - human capital contracts (HCC). What are the respective distributional properties of these policies, and how do they compare with traditional financing through income taxation? This paper shows that, irrespective of major variations between countries with different higher education, labour market and fiscal structures, with income taxation non-graduates pay more that 50% of the increased higher-education costs. It also shows that the HCC and ICL have vertical equity properties because non-graduates do not pay, but also because the income contingency principle on which they are based redistributes income among heterogeneous graduates. Finally, the paper shows that HCC are the best way to take account of graduates' ability to pay. It also reveals, however, that the ICL can be made to be almost as equitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to outline the main higher education reforms in Germany, including the implementation of the Bologna Process. It takes as its focus the doctoral phase, conceptualised by "Bologna" as the third cycle of study but held by many to be the first phase of independent scientific research. In the context of increasing internationalisation of higher education and the European Commission's forecast that 700,000 more researchers will be needed (European Commission, 2003), it is vital to get the reform of the system right. The paper considers the effects of the German Higher Education Framework Act and regional laws as well as those of the Bologna Process on Germany's ability to recruit and train national and international doctoral candidates in the natural sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the high costs of implementing personnel development programs in enterprises and increasingly in universities as well are commonly accepted, the scientifically-grounded evaluation of a program's effectiveness is often neglected. The aim of this paper was to evaluate a personnel development program for academics at a German university (N=1426). We investigated the program's effectiveness on Kirkpatrick's four levels. We examined short- and long-term effects with a repeated measurements design. In sum, 123 training programs were clustered into 26 primary studies. We conducted t-tests and aggregated the effect sizes (d) using meta-analytical techniques. We found a high short-term effect and a moderate to high long-term effect for the learning level, and a small to moderate long-term effect for the behavior level. Participants' organizational commitment did not increase. Our results have appealing practical implications for university HR managers, trainers, and evaluators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The refugee influx in the European context has challenged national systems and individual higher education institutions to develop and iterate solutions for prospective and, increasingly, enrolled university students. In the German setting, enormous federal investment has supported a robust response, though one which in several aspects lacks cohesion. This paper discusses possible implications of refugee student enrolment in German universities, and offers recommendations for policy initiatives in the same context. Key proposals include: revisiting the numerus clausus admissions system; expanding the existing student services model; emphasizing an early focus on subject-specific language proficiency (Fachsprache); emergency funds for small student expenses; the development of internships for refugee students; and support for student and staff collaboration and information sharing at both the state and federal levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principles of sustainable development are becoming extremely relevant for organisations. In the case of universities, these institutions can act as agents in promoting these principles within society. The literature contains a wide range of studies which show how universities may play a critical role in disseminating sustainability principles on the one hand, and their translation into practice, on the other. At present, many higher education institutions are becoming more aware of their impact on the environment, and trying to understand the environmental needs and implications of their operations. Going further, some universities are incorporating sustainability principles into their activities. One of the questions that universities are now facing is how education for sustainable development can be translated into practice so that it can be effective in transforming society. This paper will discuss the need for and the usefulness of integrative approaches to implement sustainable development in higher education. In addition to a theoretical review of the state of the art, the paper will use case studies from the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany) and Bournemouth University (UK) to illustrate the effectiveness of integration of sustainable development principles in university research and teaching activities, and the many benefits integrative approaches may bring about. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing panel data and taking heterogeneity and persistent inefficiency into account, we show the limitations of standard efficiency analysis for higher education institutions. It is the first time that the concept of longterm inefficiency is considered in the analysis of traditional universities. This inclusion allows for more accurate estimations and more purposeful policy recommendations. The new specification improves the accuracy of the heterogeneity assumption and exposes inefficiency’s tendency to be persistent. Thus, this paper finds that an efficiency increase can be achieved only if future measures aim at long-term conditions, which are presumably determined outside of individual institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflecting team is a structured and guided method for peer collaborative reflection on critical incidents in teaching. The present evaluation study combining quantitative and qualitative data investigates the perceived usefulness and central insights associated with the participation in a reflecting team session. This method was implemented among three groups of teachers in Germany: student teachers, school teachers, and higher education teachers. All three groups reported high levels of perceived usefulness of the method and provided insights into their central experiences in connection with the reflecting team. Differences between the three groups in terms of perceived usefulness and central insights of peer reflection stem from participants' distinct organizational and educational contexts and show various ways of how teachers can derive benefits from the reflecting team method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:As one part of scientific meta-knowledge, students’ meta-modelling knowledge should be promoted on different educational levels such as primary school, secondary school and university. This study focuses on the assessment of university students’ meta-modelling knowledge using a paper–pencil questionnaire. Purpose:The general purpose of this study was to assess and to describe university students’ meta-modelling knowledge. More specifically, it was analysed to what extent the meta-modelling knowledge, as expressed in a questionnaire, depends on the scientific discipline to which university students relate their answer and the concrete model to which they refer while answering. Sample:N = 184 students from one German university voluntarily participated in this study. Design and methods:The questionnaire was developed based on a theoretical framework for model competence and includes constructed response items asking about the purpose of models, ways for testing models and reasons for changing models. Students written answers were first analysed qualitatively based on the theoretical framework to decide whether they expressed advanced understandings or not. Further analyses then were conducted quantitatively. Results:Findings suggest that only few university students possess an advanced meta-modelling knowledge. However, significant more students who relate their answers to the STEM-disciplines expressed advanced understandings than those who referred to social sciences or linguistics/philology. Furthermore, university students who expressed an advanced meta-modelling knowledge referred to rather abstract kinds of models in order to explain their view. Conclusions:The present study supports the assumption that meta-modelling knowledge may be situated and contextualised. Both the scientific discipline and the concrete model to which university students refer seem to be relevant item features influencing university students’ expressed meta-modelling knowledge. Implications for assessment and teaching are discussed in the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In tune with the fundamental shift in Germany’s skill-b(i)ased immigration policy since 2005, higher education institutions (HEIs) are increasingly becoming ‘magnets’ for a skilled migrant workforce. While ‘internationalisation’ is often understood as something to be celebrated and (further) accomplished, some observers speak of clear signs of discriminatory experiences among racialised and migrant academics. This is a new aspect, as social inequalities have by and large been considered in migration studies to be the sole terrain of labour mobility into less-skilled sectors of the economy. Meanwhile, abundant literature on gender and higher education shows that women academics have poorer access to career progression than men, demonstrating gender-based academic career inequalities. However, the insights generated in these two strands of scholarship have seldom been in conversation with one another. This paper takes stock of the lack of an intersectional perspective, focusing on citizenship and gender within HEIs as hiring meso-level organisations that are becoming increasingly transnationalised. It explores the intersectionality of citizenship and gender in accessing academic career advancement by examining three key career stages, that is, doctoral researchers, postdoctoral researchers, and professors, in two case-study HEIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present Germany does not have standards for the selection of evaluators of higher education, nor does it gauge their performance. However, more could be done to inspect the inspectors. For evaluations to be effective, evaluators need to have the required skills. This paper locates evaluations within the present context of German higher education. Examination of a case study of an evaluation of educational science conducted in Baden-Wurttemberg in 2003-2004 explores how experts are selected. The paper describes some of the problems they face and states why the term 'fit for purpose' is still being defined among those working as evaluators of higher education. It concludes by suggesting that there might be room for the introduction of standards for evaluator selection in the German evaluation landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A striking number of young people in Germany with the Abitur – the qualification required for entry to higher education – do not, in fact, go on to university immediately after leaving school but opt first to do an apprenticeship. This phenomenon, where general and vocational curricula are taught independently and separately, is known as the ‘additive double qualification pathway’ and represents an extreme type of hybrid qualification. This paper considers a range of individual influences in an attempt to obtain a holistic view of the possible motives of those who opt for this pathway. The study focuses on apprentices with the Abitur who were surveyed as they were about to complete their vocational training and were on the point of moving on to a university or university of applied sciences (Fachhochschule). The research investigates four very different training occupations with relatively high proportions of Abitur holders: industrial clerk; bank clerk; optician; and motor vehicle mechatronics technician. It is a large-scale quantitative research study (n = 1234). The range of possible motives is hypothesised, systematically operationalised and finally tested empirically. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including professional development of teachers through student and teacher interaction, high school teachers' experience of communicative language teaching, and health problems of German teachers.

In this paper we analyze the effect of outside university work on time to first degree at German universities. The database is the ‘Absolventenpanel' 2001, a panel study conducted by the ‘Hochschul-Informations-System'. Aiming to estimate the causal effect correctly, we apply a matching strategy based on the approach put forward by Rosenbaum and Rubin [(1983) “The Central Role of Propensity Score in Observational Studies for Causal Effects.”Biometrika70: 41–55]. The results of the matching approach reveal that simple prima facie results are upward biased but confirm that off-campus work has a prolonging effect on study duration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The research we report on was conducted from our computer desktops. We have not met the people we have studied; they are part of what Eichhorn described as a “textual community”, gathered around the threads of online conversations associated with a website servicing the needs of English-language speakers in Germany. The thread in question started in 2008 with a query from someone about to move to Berlin, seeking advice about the best international school in which to enrol her three children. The ensuing conversations are revealing, not only because of the schools canvassed and the manner in which they are discussed, but also because of the schools that are not charted into the discussion. This paper raises questions about qualitative research methodologies in online settings, particularly in relation to studies of the global middle-class. It examines claims about an emerging commitment to “nonlocal ethnography” and the surmising one can make about research subjects one never meets, but who remain comprehensible because of the broader cultural context in which they are situated. The research carries the promise of “rich enough” ethnography, reflecting a commitment to understanding what peopledo, documenting and analysing the intricate realities influencing and shaping individual choices people make, the complexities they face and the realities they help create. The fact that it was done “at a distance”, in so-called virtual spaces, does not undermine its ethnographic authenticity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

‘Disaster education’ is a fledgling area of study in lifelong education. Many countries educate their populations for disasters, to mitigate potential damage and loss of life, as well as contribute to national security. In this paper, which draws on interview data from the German Federal Office for Civil Defence and Disaster Assistance and the Federal Agency for Technical Relief, archival research, analysis of websites and promotional materials as well as relevant academic literature, I examine disaster education and preparedness for national emergencies in Germany. I argue that it is not generally extended to the general public, rather confined to trained experts, decentralised, localised and exclusive. Theorising disaster education as a ‘civil defence pedagogy’, a type of public pedagogy, which contributes to shaping narratives of national identity, I argue that it is unlikely that Germany will develop a more inclusive, universal, formalised nor high-profile campaign in disaster education in the foreseeable future. This, I suggest, is due to narratives of the German democratic nation as secure, federal, peaceful and unified, which originated at the founding of West Germany in 1949, and continue to shape contemporary political narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In Germany, social background has a strong influence on school performance in the general educational system. Children from lower social classes have fewer opportunities to gain higher school leaving certificates. In this paper, we ask the question if social selectivity is also present in the German system of vocational education and training. Based on the data-set of the German Transition Study of the Federal Institute of Vocational Education and Training, we analyse the transition from school to vocational education and training, including also the transition to higher education. We show that the successful placement in full vocational qualification programmes leading to a recognised occupation depends strongly on the general school-leaving certificate. As regards the direct influence of social background, there is some evidence for fewer chances for young people from lower social classes but only for non-holders of a higher education entrance qualification (HEEQ). Young people from lower social classes holding a HEEQ more often choose initial vocational training instead of a higher education degree. Our results show that the strong social selectivity of the German general educational system is perpetuated in the German system of vocational education and training and determines long-run career perspectives. Therefore, a policy for reduction of social selectivity in Germany has to target the teaching in the schools of general education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper estimates the effect of tuition fees on enrolment behaviour among prospective students in Germany. According to the rational choice theory (RCT), we argue that due to the higher costs brought on by such fees tuition fees should have a negative effect on student's enrolment. This should be even more pronounced among prospective students from socially disadvantaged families. The analyses take advantage of the non-uniform introduction of tuition fees that provide the unique case of a natural experiment. To account for non-random selection, we apply a “difference-in-differences propensity score matching” method. However, none of the analyses provided any evidence to support the assumption that tuition fees of €500 have a negative effect on the enrolment decisions of prospective students including those from families where neither parent has a university degree. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores participation in higher education in Germany and Spain through two case studies from the RANLHE project. There is one case in each national context (Germany and Spain) based on biographical interviews undertaken between 2008 and 2010. Social, economic and cultural dimensions are explored in order to better understand the German and Spanish contexts. In addition, we look at the comparison of the two cultural and institutional contexts, searching for a more complex description of the processes related to access, retention, completion and learning in higher education from a European and transnational perspective. These issues are connected to social challenges regarding inequalities and social class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an analysis of an increasingly political nature of the rationales behind the memberships of the UK and Germany in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). This analysis is guided by rational-choice neo-institutionalism and is based on expert interviews with key stakeholders in both countries as well as their relevant official communications. This article serves as an important stepping-stone to the investigation of the link between EHEA memberships and its signatories' external politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student recruitment is an increasingly important topic for universities worldwide. But in order to develop sophisticated recraitment strategies, recruitment officers need to have a clear understanding of how and why students choose colleges. This review compares the German and US research concerning university choice models, choice criteria and information sources prospective students use when exploring their options after school. The paper emphasizes the complexity of the decision-making processes of freshmen and reveals three gaps in the German student recruitment research literature. The development of a German university choice model, an increased application of explorative research methodologies, and the consideration of additional aspects possibly impacting the college choice could help to refine German research approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, faculty members are rewarded financially for prestige-maximizing publications. As a result, the balance between publishing and other activities such as teaching or public service may collapse, as argued by Leisyte, Enders, and de Boer (2009). In our paper, we focus on career-related rewards and study their impact on publication productivity to see whether economic incentives do indeed affect faculty behavior, as measured empirically. We compare economic incentives resulting from two different career systems, namely those within the German and the U.S. university systems. We derive three hypotheses regarding expected publication patterns and test them by comparing the lifetime publication patterns of German and U.S. business and economics faculty members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines two cases of higher education innovation in the Faculty of Business and Economics at the public University of Regensburg in Germany. The introduction of the Honours-program, a program to promote the best students in business and economics, as well as the change from the German Diploma to the Bachelor degree are analyzed and evaluated using a cross-case study methodology. Sources of change were analyzed; the processes categorized, emerging barriers and key factors to overcome resistance and implementation of these fundamental changes identified. Our findings indicate that fundamental changes in the public space - independent of their early-mover reactive and top-down or anticipatory and bottom-up characteristics - might face a similar kind of implementation challenges and solutions in the higher education sector. The success of these change processes mainly resulted from the commitment of the identified promoters which support the validity and applicability of change concepts and approaches that are transferred from the private sector to the public sector. However, the case findings also indicate that the government could facilitate bottom-up innovation initiatives by supplementary support to overcome system barriers due to resource shortages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

German educational spending per student has dramatically declined since the early 1970s. In this paper, we develop a theory of fiscal opportunism and argue that state governments exploit higher educational policies as an instrument of active labour market policy. By 'opening' universities to the masses and the extensive propagation of broader university enrolment during times of economic distress, state governments have an instrument at their disposal for lowering unemployment without generating negative budgetary implications. Thereby, the government pockets voter support not only by diminishing unemployment, but also by providing public goods particularly to the socially disadvantaged. At the same time, the state government risks a deterioration of educational quality owing to decreasing educational spending per student. We test our theoretical claims for the German states in a period ranging from 1975 to 2000 by means of panel fixed-effects models. The empirical results robustly support the hypothesis that rising unemployment ratios lead to increased university enrolment, but also significantly reduce the spending per student. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses a special agreement for scientific professions that is expected to reform structures and working conditions of staff in higher education and research institutions in Germany. While differentiating their professional levels and careers, such an agreement should also deal with issues of income, promotion of women, brain drain - brain gain, and the Europeanisation of higher education in Germany, with the aim of increasing the attractiveness of the academic profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on 19th and early 20th century engineering education reveals two quite general phenomena: in several countries (a) curricula have varied widely among engineering colleges with some of them strongly ‘science-oriented’ while others were more ‘practice-oriented’; and (b) at certain times and places the curriculum has tended to shift away from ‘practice’ and toward ‘science’ (a process sometimes known as ‘academic drift’). In this paper I show that relatively little attempt has yet been made to account for either phenomenon. After reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of the literatures on the USA, Germany, Britain and to a lesser extent France, I argue that comparative analysis is essential in order to develop a general understanding of the dynamics of the system of higher engineering education. An example of how this might be done is taken from my recent study of German agricultural colleges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The globalisation of higher education implies the application of a neo‐liberal market forces model based on competition and choice. This is happening in Germany by gradual stages, and is often, but not necessarily correctly, assumed to be antagonistic to the Humboldtian model that underlies the classical German university tradition. This paper reports a survey which showed that staff and student role relationships were permeated by paradoxes and mutual incomprehension, and that the goodwill, dedication and respect of the professors towards their students were being wasted due to deficits in organisation and structure. Freedom, an integral part of the Humboldtian model, was much more beneficial to the staff than to the students, many of whom called instead for better guidance and course structure. The professors were sceptical about some features of re‐structuring such as more executive leadership on the part of their management, and did not want their institutions to be run like enterprises—though they did want them to have more autonomy. About one third were willing to accept a diminution in state power. The system seems at a stage where the advantages of the Humboldtian model are being 'delivered' only incompletely, and the potential of a market model has not yet been fully realised. Humboldt was himself an intellectual predecessor of neo‐liberalism, and would not have been opposed to the notion of a reduction in state power, even though this runs counter to the present 'German model'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that research assessment is of increasing importance as an instrument of New Public Management and within the context of efforts to establish a European Research Area. Specifically, it compares the procedures of research assessment in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany in an attempt to distil basic design options for such procedures. It is suggested that this general model may be utilised to assist reviews of currently practised procedures and for the development of new ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral examinations have long been a part of German higher education. This paper gives a brief account of their historical roots and the continuing debate about their functions and validity. The earlier phases of the twentieth century debate concentrated on methodology and issues of technique. The educational changes of the 1970s brought more fundamental challenges and calls for their abolition. Yet they remain in place and there is a body of opinion which continues to defend their use and to assign them a role in the assessment process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the contours of the current policy debate in Germany over higher education reform, and the issues it raises for an anthropological understanding of the role of higher education in late capitalist societies. In Germany as elsewhere, the massification of higher education was intimately bound up with the postwar trajectory of political capitalism, and its repercussions have continued to transform the moral economy of identity, citizenship, and work both within and outside of the educational "dream factory." What I wish to explore here is the articulation of higher education reform with neo-liberal projects for economic innovation and flexibilization which have driven much of the policy discussion in the 1990s. These projects seek to rewrite the social contract in the higher education sector in favor of a more instrumentalized regime of institutional and pedagogical models aimed at labor market coordination along "Anglo-Saxon" (i.e., Anglo-American) lines. The German situation is instructive in that, because of its history and structure, the German higher education system now stands on the verge of potential transformations which have long been at work in the moral and political economy of higher education in the United States, bringing new perspectives to the "already-existing" nature of such trends in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers a guide to making the most of participating from multi-disciplinary undergraduate research conferences. It introduces undergraduate research conferences, and summarizes the benefits of participating in these events. It also offers steps on how to prepare an effective verbal or poster presentation.

Recently, an increasing number of students from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds (SRABs) entering universities in settlement countries such as Australia and Germany have necessitated the establishment of a variety of supports, both as formal programs and informal ad-hoc networks. However, to date, little attention has been paid to the organisational conditions surrounding such supports. This study thus examined these conditions through the conceptual lens of organisational memory loss. Based on the two illustrative cases of Australia and Germany, it was described how building durable and responsive supports for SRABs is undermined by structural, ideological, and temporal imperatives that erode the possibilities for a sharable organisational memory. Furthermore, it was argued that similar to global arguments for durable pathways to settlement, universities need to develop and deliver lasting expertise and durable student supports by focusing on preserving organisational memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid digital transformation is taking place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing organisations and higher educational institutions to change their working and learning culture. This study explores the challenges of rapid digital transformation arising during the pandemic in the higher education context. This research used the Q-methodology to understand the nine challenges that higher education encountered, perceived differently as four main patterns: (1) Digital-nomad enterprise; (2) Corporate-collectivism; (3) Well-being-oriented; and (4) Pluralistic. This study broadens the current understanding of digital transformation, especially in higher education. The nine challenges and four patterns of transformation actors serve as a starting point for organisations in supporting technological choice and strategic interventions, based on individual, group, and organisational behavioural levels. Moreover, five propositions, based on the competing concerns of these challenges, establish a framework for comprehending the ecosystem that enables rapid digital transformation. Strategies, prerequisites, and key factors during the (digital) technology development process benefit the cyber-society ecosystem. As a practical contribution, Q-methodology was used to investigate perspectives on digitalisation challenges during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In prior studies, academic procrastination has been discussed as an influencing factor of academic misconduct. However, empirical studies were conducted solely crosssectionally and investigated only a few forms of academic misconduct. This large scale web-based study examined the responses of between 1359 and 2207 participants from different academic disciplines at four German universities to address the effect of academic procrastination on seven different forms of academic misconduct (using fraudulent excuses, plagiarism, copying from someone else in exams, using forbidden means in exams, carrying forbidden means into exams, copying parts of homework from others, and fabrication or falsification of data) and its variety. In measuring academic procrastination six months prior to academic misconduct, we found that academic procrastination affected the frequency of all forms of academic misconduct and its variety. We found the strongest effect of academic procrastination on using fraudulent excuses. Implications for university counseling and theory are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]