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June/July 2007 News
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Rapid Changes in Three CountriesGermany, Switzerland and Belgium adapt to new demands of higher education. When comparing issues in post-secondary education across three European countries with federal systems of government it becomes clear that change is in the air.
Germany Shifts Power to the Länder
REUTERS/Miro Kuzmanovic
German President Horst Köhler greets students at the University of Tübingen in February 2007.
Of the post-secondary education systems in federal countries around the world, Germany’s may be changing the most rapidly. Roughly 2 million of Germany’s 82 million people currently enrol in post-secondary education programs at either universities or Fachhochschulen (vocational and technical colleges). Two thirds of these students enrol in 121 universities and equivalent institutions; 197 Fachhochschulen enrol the remaining one-third of students. Germany also has a highly regarded and extensive system of apprenticeship training. The German approach was often characterized as being highly conservative. The system is now undergoing a radical transformation in the face of globalization and other pressures. Until very recently the German university system had been, by intention, highly homogeneous – so much so that graduates did not, and for the most part still do not, identify themselves as coming from a particular institution. All five-year degrees were assumed to be equivalent and all institutions were assumed to be essentially equal. Under the Basic Law – German’s constitution after the Second World War – education was supposed to be under the jurisdiction of the Länder, the equivalent of states or provinces, but the inclination towards having a nationally homogeneous system was sufficiently strong that by 1948 a national council had been formed to coordinate post-secondary policies. Federal framework legislation under the Basic Law followed, setting standards and defining practices that the Länder would be responsible for implementing with some degree of flexibility. Even faculty salaries were uniform across Germany, established by the federal government. The Länder Pay for Instruction The German system, which assumed that all universities were essentially equal, could not easily comply with the Bologna Declaration, which aims to greatly standardize degrees, course credits and quality assurance standards throughout Europe. Instead, the German tradition was to give every school or department a say regarding qualifications obtained at another institution. Germany was also out of step with the notion in many countries that some universities should be allowed or encouraged to develop as centres of recognized international excellence in research and graduate education. Nor did it particularly value competition among institutions. This has led to fears that Germany would be disadvantaged in the highly competitive global economic environment. All of this changed in the fall of 2006 through major amendments to the Basic Law that fundamentally altered the relationship between the German federal and Länder governments with respect to post-secondary education. The driving force for these reforms was the desire to achieve a measure of constitutional disentanglement between the two orders of government. There was a trade-off that transferred significant policy authority to the Länder, in return for a reduction in their capacity to veto federal legislation. The Länder then took responsibility for policies and legislation with regard to post-secondary education, provided these were consistent with the Bologna Declaration. As a result, the traditional German five-year undergraduate degree will be replaced, by 2010, by a four-year undergraduate degree with a master’s degree as the standard second level of achievement. Change is in the air for Germany, Switzerland and Belgium as these three European federal countries adapt to new demands of higher education Germany Charges Tuition for the First Time All of this constitutes a revolution that is motivated by the forces of international competition and, presumably, also by a desire to decentralize and make the whole German federal system more flexible. Students, who will be paying higher tuition fees, will certainly see a change and graduates will arrive on the market with qualifications different, at least on paper, from their predecessors. The poorer Länder will have more difficulty financing their institutions at the same level as the richer ones, and that could lead to greater regional differentiation in economic development, perhaps in exchange for a higher level of national economic growth in the long run. Whether the system will be better or worse in a decade or more is unpredictable – and the outcome will depend partly on the relative importance placed on equity versus competition-driven excellence – but it will most certainly be different. Switzerland Spends More Per Student
REUTERS/Andreas Meier
Students arrive on campus at the University of Zurich, where a record
24,000 students were enrolled in October 2006. The post-secondary education system in the Swiss federation is often characterized as highly decentralized. Historically, its pattern of managing higher education also fits this description. Recent constitutional changes have affected higher education and, although they were instigated by the Cantons, paradoxically they may have the potential to increase the influence of the federal (referred to as central) government in this area. What is clear is that these governmental changes will likely increase institutional autonomy and management responsibilities. In 2004-2005 about 200,000 of Switzerland’s 7.5 million inhabitants were enrolled in higher education, with about two-thirds of these in universities and the remaining one-third in higher vocational institutes. Ten universities are governed by cantonal legislation and supported financially by the cantons and there are two federal institutes of technology supported by the central government. The central government is the primary funder of university-based research, but funds only about one-eighth of teaching costs. Mobility of students is encouraged by inter-cantonal transfers to reflect the cost differentials of students studying away from their home area. Swiss financial support of universities is the highest per student among OECD countries, now amounting to about us$25,000 per year. Almost all of this spending is paid for from public sources – 1.6 percent of gdp, with the result that Switzerland has one of the highest public commitments to post-secondary education in the world. This is the result of the relatively small size of the system and low tuition fees, meaning that more funds must come from public sources to pay the freight. Bologna Declaration Transforms Europe Switzerland is a signatory to the Bologna Declaration, which aims to greatly standardize degrees, course credits and quality assurance standards throughout Europe and has had a transformative effect on post-secondary education in Europe. It appears that the ongoing process of bringing the Swiss system into compliance with the Bologna stipulations and the dictates of the increasing globalization of higher education have led the Swiss cantonal governments toward increased levels of co-operation and integration of their university systems. To encourage greater levels of co-operation at all levels of education, the cantons proposed a constitutional amendment that was passed in May 2006 which is likely to have a significant impact on the way Swiss governments approach higher education. The new constitution recognizes a “Swiss Learning Area” and enjoins the central government and the cantons to “co-ordinate their efforts and ensure their co-operation through joint administrative bodies and other measures” at all levels of education. And although residual powers in Switzerland belong to the cantons, Article 63a declares the cantons and the central government “jointly responsible for the co-ordination and guarantee of quality in the Swiss university education”. It further obliges the cantons and the central government to enter into agreements and to delegate “certain powers” to joint administrative bodies. Finally, it provides that if the central government and the cantons fail to reach their common goals by means of co-ordination, the central government “shall issue regulations on levels of studies and the transition from one level to another, on postgraduate education and on the recognition of institutions and qualifications…” Since the constitutional amendment is recent, there is no agreement yet on which powers should be delegated to the joint bodies and, while there is a long history of inter-cantonal co-operation in Switzerland, this clause potentially gives the federal government a more powerful hand in regulating the system. It is interesting to see the highly decentralized Swiss system and the highly centralized German system both potentially mutating toward each other, driven by strong external forces. It is equally interesting to note that both countries have been able to use constitutional amendments to bring about the Belgium’s Communities Make Changes
REUTERS/Nathalie Koulischer
Belgian researcher Walter Fiers poses in his laboratory at the University of Ghent. Fiers led a team that designed a one-time universal vaccine against human influenza, potentially eliminating annual flu shots.
In the past, belgian society was characterized by three cleavages. On the socio-economic front, labour and capital faced each other. The Dutch-speaking Flemish and the French-speaking Walloons fought a bitter linguistic conflict. Ideologically, Roman Catholics on the one side and liberals and socialists on the other, disagreed strongly. These cleavages also divided the political landscape in Belgium. In the 1950s a major ideological conflict threatened the functioning of the Belgian political system. Catholics on the one hand and liberals and socialists on the other hand fought bitterly over the financing of Catholic education and the control over state education. Between 1950 and 1954, the Christian democratic government outlined a financial system that was very favourable for Catholic schools and universities. Moreover, the Christian democrats tried to get a grip on the ideological neutral education organized by the state. However, in 1954 socialists and liberals won the national elections and formed a coalition government that reversed the decisions of its predecessor. Three National Divides Fuse into One The financing of both universities and vocational institutions is also a matter for the communities. Predominantly lump-sum financing occurs in both the Flemish and the Wallonia communities, but this is about to change. The Flemish government has proposed a new law on funding which will consist of four elements: a fixed basic level of funding, incentive funds for specific policy priorities, a teaching-related variable part and a research-related variable part. The teaching-related variable part is based on four criteria: number of new entrants (bachelor’s degree level), number of new entrants (master’s degree level), credits achieved, and the number of degrees awarded. Thirty-five per cent of the funding for universities goes to research and 65 per cent goes to teaching. The total budget is open-ended for universities and fixed for Hogescholen. This new law should be fully implemented by January 2008. No proposals to change the law on funding have yet been put forward for the Community of Wallonia. Communities Give Grants to Students In Flanders, increasing attention is paid to the role of rankings and accreditation in students’ choice for universities and Hogescholen. In 2006, a few programs received accreditation and the Flemish government aims to have all programs reviewed by the accreditation committee as soon as possible. Additionally, the Flemish Ministry is participating in a pilot project in which a multi-dimensional ranking system of bachelor’s and master’s degree programs is developed. In this project, in which Dutch higher education institutions are participating as well, the methodology of the German system of ranking is used. The Wallonia government in 2002 created an agency that is responsible for the evaluation of quality in higher education. However, until 2004, there was no official procedure to evaluate the quality of higher education in the French community. Until then, Universities and Hautes Ecoles (the vocational, professional and technical colleges) had their own internal quality assessment procedures. With the decree that is operational The follow-up of the Bologna Declaration, which aims to greatly standardize degrees, course credits and quality assurance standards throughout Europe, has led in Flanders to a new two-cycle system, replacing the traditional system. The old one-cycle studies of the Hogescholen changed into a professional bachelor’s degree and the two-cycle studies were transformed into academic bachelor’s and master’s degree programs. University studies were also transformed into academic bachelors and masters. No professional master’s degrees are foreseen at Hogescholen. For Wallonia, developments were similar. The new system has been fully implemented, and since 2004, bachelor’s degrees have been awarded at both universities and Hautes Ecoles for three-year programs. Master’s degrees are awarded at most institutions by now as well, and the Wallonia Government aims to finish the full implementation of the two-cycle studies by the academic year 2007-2008. Policies Converge in the Three Countries |
Richard Van Loon served as president and chancellor of Carleton University in Ottawa from 1996 to 2005. He also served as associate
Adrie Dassen is a research associate with the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies at the University of Twente in the Netherlands.
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