"The lesson is sighted eye neglected".

For decades, was for German universities: more mass than class. In the interview, Straw urges Peter Schneider, head of the Science Council, a sound financing. Monday Federation and the Länder to decide how many billions of them in future research and students are worth.

 

On lip, there is not: "Education Republic" Germany wants to be, so it has the Chancellor announced, and all the other politicians like to emphasize the importance of science and research. On Monday, they have the opportunity to prove that they pay lip service seriously.

Science
Peter Stroh Schneider: "The system suffers from structural faults"

The Joint Scientific Conference of the Federation and the countries will decide how much money the universities and research institutes in the coming years will be available. On the agenda is the future of the
Excellence initiative,
Higher Education Pact and the Pact for Research and Innovation - we are talking about billions.

Straw Peter Schneider, chairman of the Science Council, warns that the sins of the past to repeat: The universities should finally not only bigger but also better.

blogs ONLINE: Professor Strohschneider, annoy you sometimes on the scrapping?

Peter Schneider straw: About the word I'm annoyed because there is no confidence radiates?

blogs ONLINE: ... and not even on the billion, as premiums are paid? The universities, they could just as well used as the car industry.

Straw Schneider: Yes, that's true. Equally important is how such sums me but that the universities are no longer systematically disadvantage. This is also a sound financial structure, which is not, as for decades, the capacity increases, but not the quality of teaching and studies increases.

blogs ONLINE: There was also: Class instead of mass?

Strohschneider: The universities are suffering from weights, which were influential for decades: You have, in addition to many other problems, often worse labs and relatively fewer people than the non-university research institutions. In this respect is remarkable how powerful the universities in these conditions in the research.

blogs ONLINE: The institutes were always better, the only universities grow?

Strohschneider: In any event, administrative and financial structures of parts of the science system for far too long in this way drift apart. Moreover, the increase of funds in any way with the expansion of student numbers kept pace - especially not in particularly high demand subjects. So it's over the decades to significant structural distortions come in which the system is suffering today.

blogs ONLINE: Do you have no hope of improvement?

Straw Schneider: Yes, certainly! In recent years there has been a clear evolution to a more rational system of functioning. The excellence initiative promotes advanced research in universities, the Pact for Research and Innovation promotes the non-university institutions and the Higher Education Pact funded additional student places.

blogs ONLINE: About the future of all three instruments should be decided on Monday. We are talking about many billions, but in the crisis the money is scarce. What is the most important of the three areas?

Straw Schneider: That is precisely the wrong question. There should be no question of the areas against each other. There is currently a rare opportunity for a sound and structure sachangemessene to install. Not only is the funding is important, but also the financial system, facilitate a balanced development of all major tasks of the science system.

blogs ONLINE: In this system, the teaching at the universities so far, except eight.

Straw cutter: It is indeed very unfortunate that the quality of teaching as an appropriate financial instrument is missing. It is often sighted eye
neglected. There are initiatives, but no radical solutions. That must change - not in spite of the economic crisis, but because of her. Increased investment in the quality of academic education are also those young people who will now be accumulated debt burdens, and must be removed.