Reward quality, not student numbers, German science council urges

The chair of the German Science and Humanities Council has warned politicians against cutting university finances as student numbers stagnate, calling for funding to reward quality of education rather than quantity of enrolments.

In an annual report on trends in higher education, Wolfgang Wick addresses predictions by the Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK), anticipating a “stabilisation” of the number of new students enrolling in German universities by 2026.

After consistent growth since the 2007-08 academic year, Professor Wick notes, a November 2023 report from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) indicated that the total number of students in Germany had declined for the second year in a row.

In the winter term of 2023, 2.87 million students were enrolled at German universities, Destatis found, 1.7 per cent less than 2022 and 2.5 per cent less than 2021. The number of first-year students, however, had risen for the second year in a row, from 472,400 in 2021 to 479,300 in 2023.

To deal with demographic change, Professor Wick says, universities must shift course, focusing on “achieving better returns” while student numbers remain “relatively constant” rather than “keeping universities open to the influx of additional prospective students”.

Institutions should seize “the chance to correct the undesirable developments of the growth period”, Professor Wick advises, citing overbooked courses, “worsening student-teacher ratios” and “unfavourable” group sizes as examples.

Politicians, meanwhile, must adopt the mantra, “small is beautiful, too,” the council chair recommends, warning against tying university funding to enrolment rates. “A university that accepts fewer students and looks after them better must be rewarded and not punished through job cuts,” he said in a press statement.

Noting that demographic change varied across regions and subject areas, Professor Wick advises universities to adopt individual strategies, which could include redesigning “over-specialised” courses, coordinating course offerings with other local universities or offering new formats for study.

While universities could capitalise on the demand for STEM graduates, the chair says, they “should not base their course offerings solely on the labour market”, because demand could fluctuate.

Professor Wick further observes that international students “offer[ed] great potential for recruiting skilled workers”. While many remained in Germany after graduation, universities could still do more to retain them, he says.

In 2023, Germany overtook Australia to become the third most popular destination for international students, behind just the US and the UK, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) reported.

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com