Michael Gardner
18 January 2009
Issue: 0059
Germany’s oldest private university, Witten-Herdecke, has managed to narrowly survive a financial crisis. With new bids from private investors, it now looks as if the institution, situated in the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), will also receive the government subsidy it has to rely on.
There are more than 80 private higher education institutions in Germany, compared with some 300 publicly funded institutions, and they enrol 70,000 students out of a total student population of almost 2 million.
Academic fields addressed are just as varied as funding concepts. Support may come from foundations, professional organisations, industry and so on. Many of these institutions are highly specialised. For example, the Bad Honnef-Bonn University of Applied Sciences runs bachelor courses in hospitality management, tourism management and aviation management. Founded in 1998, it commenced its programme two years later and now has just under 1,500 students.
Fees at Bad Honnef-Bonn for students from EU countries range from EUR8,200 (US$10,800) a year for a six-semester course to EUR8,900 a year for an eight-semester course. Fees for non-EU students are EUR9,200-9,900. In comparison, fees at public institutions are in the region of EUR300-500 in the Länder that have introduced them.
Fees represent Bad Honnef-Bonn’s sole source of revenue, although it was launched with a EUR5 million grant from the Bonn-Berlin compensation fund to make up for losses when the federal government moved to the new capital.
Witten-Herdecke University runs courses in medicine, economics, dental medicine and “cultural reflexion”, a subject focusing on research in cultural forms and phenomena in terms of their logic and context, as distinct from civilisation studies and cultural theory. Fees at Witten-Herdecke range from EUR1,200 to EUR2,250 per quarter year.
Launched back in 1981, Witten-Herdecke has been struggling with accusations of bad management for several years. What seemed the final straw came in mid-December, when NRW Minister of Higher Education Andreas Pinkwart (Free Democrats) announced it would have to manage without the EUR4.5 million subsidy originally due from the government.
Pinkwart also demanded repayment of around EUR3 million funding for 2007. The Minister based these drastic decisions on the university’s failure to demonstrate an orderly conduct of affairs. A warning by the university’s founder, fellow Free Democrat Konrad Schily, that the government was “making a huge mistake” went unheeded. But, in a last-minute bid to save the institution, the Heidelberg health corporation SRH Holding and the Darmstadt Software AG Foundation presented themselves as “new strategic partners”.
Pinkwart revised his decision. Now Witten-Herdecke is to receive its EUR4.5 million for 2009 and 2010. A “once-off” payment of an additional EUR4.5 million is being considered, and the university can appeal against repayment of the EUR3 million. However, the government demands that independent auditors check the institution’s finances this year.
SHR Holding is already funding six private higher education institutions in Germany. One of them, the OTA Hochschule in Berlin, is headed by Rita Süssmuth, formerly President of the Federal Parliament. Neither are SHR Holding newcomers to Witten-Herdecke itself. Their bid in 2007 to sponsor the university was turned down by its management for fear that corporate influence could become too strong.
Witten-Herdecke has an annual budget of more than EUR30 million and has long depended on government support despite originally boasting it would survive as a private venture. Such hopes were dashed as more and more sponsors withdrew, notably business consultants Droege International.
As matters grew worse, the government started sending requests that the institution present a sound budget. Eighteen of these requests went unanswered. At the height of the recent crisis, several hundred of the institution’s 1,200 students staged a campus demonstration offering to pay 60% higher tuition fees to save their university. Pinkus’ response was to guarantee them places at other institutions should Witten-Herdecke ultimately fail.
Despite its chequered financial history, Witten-Herdecke has often been referred to as a model in terms of its course structures. In medicine, in particular, it has been praised for its approach to bridging the gap between practical and theoretical training. It has also frequently been cited as a positive example of the way tuition fees could work.
michael.gardner@uw-news.com
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