Markt und Wissenschaft - kritische Betrachtungen zur deutschen Hochschulpolitik

During the so-called student movement after 1968 German governments accepted and promoted the partial transformation of German universities into political organizations. Some of the new regulations proved to be unconstitutional. During a phase of consolidation a continuous flow of ever-changing and contradictory bureaucratic interventions was intended to combat the outcome of the first destabilizing period. At the same time universities with their not sufficiently adapted capacity had to accept heavily growing numbers of students. In the meantime policy-makers changed their mind by stressing now only the economic functions of the universities as professional schools and producers of directly marketable new knowledge. The working conditions of professors and other scientists deteriorated more or less in all three phases, while they were pressed to improve their efficiency. The errors behind this policy are analyzed in detail: universities are neither political institutions nor firms only selling products on the market. At least much more important is their capacity to develop new methods and to find new basic knowledge. The resulting indirect growth of productivity is the main contribution of the universities also from an economic point of view. Teaching at universities should remain connected with research as far as possible. German policy tries to improve the efficiency of universities by unsuitable methods.