Development of the higher education system in the German

The German Democratic Republic (GDR) inherited six universities, three techni- cal and five art and music higher education institutions (Baske, 1998:202). Most of the universities dated back to middle ages, among others Leipzig (1409) and Jena (1548). The famous Berlin University (1810)—the cradle of the German university idea—was also located in the territory of the Soviet Occupied Zone.

Higher education in the former GDR developed under completely different condi- tions. A centralized educational system, which functioned according to the principles of planned economy was established. Education became a bearer and “upraiser” of the concept of Marxist-Leninist party ideology. Once again the Humboldtian ideals were shattered: the universities, governed by the state secretariat, lost their insti- tutional autonomy almost entirely; the freedom of teaching and research was hardly possible to maintain under the existing circumstances, as communist ideology was

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On the original idea of Gesamthochshulen see e.g. International Association of Uni- versities (Ed.) “Problems of Integrated Higher Education: An International Case Study of Gesamthochschule”, Paris, International Association of Universities, 1972; on implementation: Cerych, L., Neusel, A., Teichler, U. and Winkler, H.: “Gesamthochschule - Erfahrungen, Hemm- nisse, Zielwandel”, Frankfurt and New York, Campus, 1981. Also: Kluge, N., Neusel, A., Oehler, Ch. & Teichler, U. (Eds.), Gesamthochschule Kassel 1971-1981: R¨uckblick auf das erste Jahrzehnt. Kassel, Stauda, 1981.

diffused into science, becoming a part of it68

, and education, which was expected to directly serve the state, became instrumentalized. The unity of teaching and research was preserved to certain extent. However, more research increasingly took place out- side the universities, in special research institutes or Academies of Science. According to Last & Sch¨afer (1997:517), by the end of 1980s there were twice as many people doing research outside the universities than inside.

Despite this, the Socialist Party of Germany (SED) always claimed to have pre- served the Humboldtian principles in education (Coonely, 1997:55), even the Uni- versity of Berlin was renamed into the Humboldt University (Klein, 1985). In fact, that was far from reality and the SED educational policy, directed towards “building socialism” clearly demonstrated that69

. Likewise, the political control of thought and of education is in its core antagonistic to the Humboldtian spirit of academic freedom. Higher education historians usually distinguish between three stages of the deve- lopment of higher education in the GDR, which are marked by the three “Reforms” (Buck-Bechler, 1997; Connelly, 1997; Baske, 1998; Kehm; 1999).

The so-called “first higher educational reform” was directed towards adjusting the “cadre” policy in the universities which directly concerned students and faculty. The policy of “denazification” of academic staff was implemented on a dramatic scale. The dismissals of higher education teachers counted to an approximate of 83 percent of all professors and docents who had taught before the end of the war (Burkhardt & Scherer, 1997:299; Jessen, 2005:249). However, in the 1950s the aca- demics occupied in natural sciences, medical and technical areas, who had suffered from dismissals of the early post-war years, were rehabilitated and reintegrated to their positions. In social sciences and humanities the situation was different. Al- most 80 percent of academic staff in social sciences and 50 percent in humanities (Jessen, 2005:250) were composed of newly installed personnel, some of them leftist intellectual `emigr`es from the West, who became engaged in developing the “politically correct faculties” (ibid:252).

The other policy was directed towards increasing the representation of the working 68

For example the Marxist-Leninist Social Sciences (see: Vierzig Jahre Institute f¨ur Marxismus- Leninismus beim ZK der SED, 1949-1989, Berlin, Institute f¨ur Marxismus-Leninismus, 1989).

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At this point the Sixth Party Congress in 1963 is remarkable. During the Congress, Walter Ulbricht declared that the task of universities is “training of highly educated cadres who have mastered the scientific way of thinking and work creatively and economically for the attainment of the highest social use (Nutzen)”, cited in Coonely, 1997:56, footnote 2.

class at the universities, thus “breaking the bourgeois education monopoly” (Con- nelly, 1997:58). To reach the aim, so-called workers’ and peasants’ faculties (Arbeiter- und-Bauer-Fakult¨aten) were established to provide university access to the sons and daughters of workers and peasants, thus eliminating the educational privileges for the higher social population group (Schneider, 1998; Miethe & Schiebel, 2008).

The “Second higher educational reform” significantly affected both the study or- ganization and government of the universities. The Soviet model of higher educa- tion was gradually implemented in East Germany. According to the law on higher education reorganization from 22 February 1951, a “state secretariat for higher edu- cation”, which overtook the overall control on educational matters, was formed. The semester system was changed and a strict planned study, that prescribed the se- quence and type of courses to be taken by students, was being implemented. The study reforms in the universities were reminiscent of elementary and secondary school education, some scholars mention the term “Verschulung” (e.g. Connelly, 1997:63; Lenhardt, 2005:198) to describe this abrupt shift in the organization of the German university. The reform had an impact on the context of the study, too. Thus, the courses on Marxism-Leninism became obligatory and ended with an examination. The teaching was supposed to propound Marxism-Leninism and an active loyalty to the socialist state was expected (Pitchard, 2004). During this period, a number of new higher education institutions were opened. These were mostly specialized institutions with their own subject discipline (like higher educational institutions of transportation, finances, chemistry, etc.) and had the task of delivering specific train- ing and education which fitted into the state plan (Buck-Bechler, Jahn & Lewin, 1997; Baske 1998). Another type of institution of higher education was created to deliver party ideology, the so-called Parteihochschule. This were the HEIs of the SED (“Karl Marx” Institutes) and the Jugendhochschule of the communist youth organisation (Freie Deutsche Jugend, FDJ) (Kowalczuk, 2003, Jessen 2005).

The “Third Higher Educational Reform” which took place in the late sixties was a reform of rationalizations. A unified system of education was planned to be in- stalled, the studies should have become more specialized and at an earlier stage. Higher education focused to the requirements of the technological progress and to the formation of socialist character. The rationalization affected also the structural organization, thus the traditional faculties and institutes were replaced by the Sec- tions (Sektionen). On the whole, the Sektionen made planning and control easier to realize. Also through Sektionen, it became possible to link the university to in-

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(Connelly, 1997;Baske, 1998; Kehm, 1999). Another traditional feature of German higher education—the Habilitation—was abolished and instead, the “doctor of science degree”, like in the Soviet model, was to take its place with an exception that it was not a prerequisite for a professorial position (Jessen, 2005).

The reforms of 60’s made the university staffing relatively inflexible and immo- bile. Academics who spent their entire professional lives in one institution were not exceptions (Burkhardt & Scherer, 1997).