Importance of EC RTD Policy and its Influence on Institutes of Higher Education

Abstract

The German higher education sector is regarded as well developed and — following a wave of foundations in the 1960s and 1970s — well distributed regionally. In the new Länder (previously the GDR) the higher education system was totally re-organised at the beginning of the 90s (see also Krull 1992). Today there are 312 higher education institutes (HEIs) in Germany (state at the beginning of 1992); these comprise

• 86 academic universities (“Hochschulen”) that are universities with the right to confer PhDs. With a few exceptions, the universities engage in teaching and research in a wide range of scientific disciplines. After the research laboratories of industry, the universities represent the most extensive research potential in Germany.

• 124 technical colleges (“Fachhochschulen”): These arose in the 1970s (usually superseding previous, older institutions, such as state colleges of engineering) and provide practice-oriented, job-oriented, science-based training particularly in the various fields of engineering, especially electrotechnics, mechanical engineering, civil engineering and architecture. The technical colleges do not have the right to confer PhDs. For some years now, they have increasingly been performing applications-related R&D, and they are also involved in the process of technology transfer to regional industry. For these reasons they were included in this survey.

• About 100 other higher education establishments in the fields of teacher training, theology, music, the fine arts and public administration; these are not included in this survey.