Quo vadis universitas?

Abstract

The article considers the advantages and disadvantages of the European universities that can be explained only by the analysis of their history. In contrast to the conventional theories, the economic enforcement was the driving cause for university formation in the Middle Ages. The guild concept created by Siegfried Bär 15 years ago explains the historical imperative, but also the construction faults of the universities resulting from their specific features essentially the principles of self-autonomy and cooptation. The faults of university organization are the main reasons why nearly all university reforms failed. There does not exist any convincing proof that the introduction of new organization models such as bachelor and master degree courses or excellence clusters are of more efficiency in teaching and research. The international university ranking did not change in recent years; the top ten universities are still located in the USA and Great Britain. The majority of German universities range between the middle and the end of the ranking list. It is demonstrated that the main causes of this discrepancy are the delay of academic qualification, the lack of competition, the dependency of the public policy, and the insufficient financial support. Progress in university research and teaching can be obtained only if these problems can be solved.