User talk:Hans Jürgen Blinn

"New Trends in German and European Higher Education”

The development of German higher education in a federal system with special emphasis on the implementation of the Bologna Process

The role of the Länder

The name "Federal Republic of Germany" itself denotes the country's federal structure. The Federal Republic consists of 16 Länder (states). The Länder are not mere provinces but states endowed with their own powers. Each has a constitution which must be consistent with the republican, democratic and social principles em¬bodied in the Basic Law, the Grundgesetz. Subject to these conditions the states can shape their own constitutions.

The federal system has a long tradition in Germany and was interrupted only by the Nazi regime from 1933 until 1945. Germany is one of the classical federal states. Federalism has proved its worth: it is much easier for a country with a federal structure than a centralized state to take account of regional characteristics and problems. But the main purpose of federalism is to safeguard the nation's freedom. The distribution of responsibilities between the Federation and the states is an essential element of the power-sharing arrangement, the checks and balances, as provided for in the Basic Law. This also embraces the participation of the states in the legislative process at the federal level through the Bundesrat.

In contrast to the senatorial system of federal states like the United States or Switzerland, the Bundesrat does not consist of elected representatives of the people but of members of the state governments or their representatives. De¬pending on the size of their population, the states have three, four, five or six votes which may only be cast as a block. Rhineland-Palatinate has 4 votes.

The Basic Law determines the powers of the Federation in terms of whether laws should be the same for all the states or whether the states should be allowed to make their own laws. This is illustrated by the fact that the Federation's law¬making powers fall into three different categories, namely exclusive, concurrent or framework legislation.

Areas of legislation which fall within the exclusive purview of the Federation are foreign affairs, defense, monetary matters, air transport and some elements of taxation.

In the case of concurrent legislation, the states may only pass laws on matters not covered by federal law. The Federation may only legislate in such cases where it is necessary to have a uniform law for the whole country. The areas which fall into this category are civil and criminal law, commercial law, nuclear energy, labor and land law, the law concerning aliens, housing, shipping, road transport, refuse disposal, air pollution and noise abatement. Since it has proved necessary to have standard laws for these matters, the states have more or less ceased to have any jurisdic¬tion in these areas.

Where the Federation has the power to enact framework legislation, the states have a certain amount of legisla¬tive latitude. This applies, for instance, in the fields of higher education, nature conservation, landscape management, regional planning and water manage¬ment.

As mentioned above, the states can fill in any gaps left by federal legislation or in areas not specified in the Basic Law. Thus the states are responsible for education and culture almost in their entirety as a manifestation of their "cultural sovereignty", for local government law and the police.

The real strength of the states lies however in their participation in the legislative process at the federal level through the Bundesrat. All internal administration lies in their hands, and their bureaucracy implements most federal laws and regulations.

Thus state administration is threefold: •	It handles matters that fall exclusively within its jurisdiction (schools, police and regional planning, for example); •	it implements federal law in its own right and on its own responsibility (such as the law on planning of building projects, trade and industry, and environmental protection); •	and it implements federal law on behalf of the Federation (construction of national highways and promotion of training, for instance).

However, these legal principles are not without problems, as you may imagine. The influence of the states in the legislative process has increased in last three decades. More than half of all bills require the formal approval of the Bundesrat, which means that they cannot pass into law against its will. This applies especially to bills that concern vital interests of the states, for instance their financial affairs or their administrative powers. No proposed amendments to the constitution can be adopted without the Bundesrat's consent (two-thirds majority). In all other cases the Bundesrat only has a right of objection, but this can be overruled by the Bundestag. If the two houses of parliament cannot reach agreement a mediation committee composed of members of both chambers must be convened, which has in the past in most cases worked out a compromise.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the case any more. In the Bundesrat party interests often override states inter¬ests now, as the majority in the Bundestag is not the same as in the Bundesrat. This has been the case already in the 60s and 70s of the last century, but after the German unification in 1990, in my opinion, a different kind of policy making has overtaken. The Bundesrat has become quite often a battle-field for the parties and the latest development has led to the possibility of an federal election on September 18 this year, although the regular parliament period of the Bundestag would end in October 2006. The ruling red-green coalition has lost a state election in one of the Länder (North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populated state in the country with 17 million people) and it seems there is no chance for the federal government any more to reach agreements with the opposition majority in the Bundesrat for necessary reforms under these circumstances. Therefore chancellor Schröder wants the approval of the people of Germany for his reform agenda 2010 now.

There was another blow to legislative reforms some months ago. A committee [Föderalismuskommission] with representatives from the Bundestag and the Bundesrat discussed reforms of the constitutional system, but failed to come up with an agreement. The states and the federal government couldn’t agree on issues concerning the cultural sovereignty, meaning f.e. the financing of the higher education system in Germany in respect to the Bologna process.

Of the Bundesrat's 16 committees, the Cultural Affairs Committee, the Internal Affairs Committee and the Committee for European Union Issues are the main committees responsible for science and education.

Under an agreement concluded in 1987 between the Federation and the states on the notification and involvement of the Bundesrat and the Länder in European Union affairs, the Bundesrat established, in 1988, what is known as - the "EU Chamber" which adopts statements on EU documents and bills.

The EU-Maastricht Treaty, ratified in December 1992, resulted in an amendment of the Basic Law (Art. 23) to accord the states greater rights of participation in EU affairs through the Bundesrat. According to the new Article 23 and the law on the cooperation of the Federation and the Länder on issues of the European Union of 12 March 1993, the Federal Government has to take into account the opinion of the Bundesrat on European Union issues when the legislative powers or administrative procedures of the Länder are affected by the planned actions of the European Union.

In the European Union the Council is the EU institution in which the governments of the Member States are represented. Together with the European Parliament it is the Community legislator and budgetary authority. It is the lead institution for decision-making on the common foreign and security policy and on police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters. The Council consists of one representa¬tive of each Member State at ministerial level (e.g. the Ministers for Agriculture when the Council takes decisions on the common agricultural policy). The President of the Council is the Minister of the Member State currently holding the Presidency of the European Union. Each Member State holds the Presidency for a six-month term. Germany will preside next time over the Council in the first half year of 2007.

A fact, that will have immediate impact on my daily work is the latest development on the EU level beginning in July 2005: my minister, Prof. Dr. E. Jürgen Zöllner, will be sent to the EU council for education as the representative of all German states, sitting next to his federal counterpart in these meetings. This is quite unusual, as we just heard, because usually federal ministers represent their countries and not the regional or the Länder-Minister. But we have an exemption in the fields of cultural sovereignty (education and culture), as explained above.

As my minister will represent from now on the 16 German Bundesländer at the EU level, how will he get his instructions from his colleagues? Now here comes another instrument into play, which is quite strange for people not accustomed to our system.

The 16 Länder have their regular "Conferences" of a certain type for each of their ministers (f.e. those of culture, higher education, research, interior affaires). Some of them have at their disposal a standing administrative apparatus. FoIlowing the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany it soon became cIear that there was a basic public need for education to be coordinated and harmonised throughout the country if people were to be provided with the opportunity of mobility between the Länder in their professional and private lives.

The main aim of the cooperation entered into by the Länder in I948 with the founding of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany [Kultusministerkonferenz - KMK] was to guarantee by means of coordination the necessary measure of shared characteristics and comparability in the Federal Republic of Germany's education system, an aim that is still pursued to this day, even and especially during the implementation of the Bologna process.

Resolutions of the Standing Conference (KMK) can only be adopted unanimously and regulate mutual acceptance of school diploma, matters of access to university study, quality requirements, planning frameworks and the like. They have the status of recommendations until they are enacted as binding legislation by the parliaments in the Länder. The resolutions are implemented in the individual Länder in the form of administrative action, ordinances or laws, with the Land parliaments playing a role in the legislative procedure.

The Agreement on the Standardisation in the Field of Universities of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule) System of 1968 is still of particular importance to the structure of higher education today. The Agreement defined the Fachhochschulen, which were formed from engineering schools and comparable institutions, as separate institutions in the higher education sector.

Through cooperation between the Standing Conference and the association of institutions of higher education as represented by their rectors or presidents, the Association of Universities and other Higher Education Institutions [Hochschulrektorenkonferenz] it has been possible, even since the 1950s, to bring together governmental administration, on the one hand, and self-administration in the field of higher education, on the other.

This cooperation has led, among other things, to agreements on the content and structure of study courses and examinations within the overall framework of nationwide study reform. It was already clear by the end of the 1980s, that due to modified educational patterns, the number of students was not falling significantly, but rather looked set to continue rising.

One of the crucial topics being addressed by the Standing Conference since the 1990s is the need for basic structural reform of higher education. The emphasis of this reform process, which has been accompanied by the Standing Conference and the Association of Universities and other Higher Education Institutions since the beginning of the 1990s with recommendations on the implementation of structural study reform, is on the marked differentiation between courses of study that qualify for entry into a profession and the training of upcoming academics, as well as the expansion of the universities of applied sciences [Fachhochschulen], which in the long term should take in 40% of applicants.

Further topics relating to the field of higher education which have been covered in depth by the Standing Conference over the past few years include the structural guidelines for the Bachelor's and Master's study courses, the accreditation of study courses by an independent Accreditation Council within the framework of quality assurance across the Länder and across institutions of higher education, continuing academic education, the reinforcement of the right of higher education institutions to decide on the admission of applicants and the enhancement of Germany's international attractiveness as a study location.

In 2003, the Standing Conference established regular reporting on the German education system. In the future, on the basis of essentials the Federation and the Länder have agreed upon, and corresponding with the constitutional responsibilities of Federation and Länder respectively, the developments in the central areas of education are to be described in a joint educational report and to be analysed with regard to the further development of the German education system.

A scientific advisory board will advise Federation and Länder regarding the coverage on educational matters. The coverage is aimed at informing the public systematically and comprehensively on important data and performance indicators in education. The report about education in Germany [Bildungsbericht für Deutschland] fits in well with the recent joint initiatives of the Länder for quality development and quality assurance.

As a conclusion you can clearly state: as long as our Basic Law stands as it is, the states will play a vital role in higher education in Germany and therefore in the ongoing Bologna Process, as well.