3. Higher Education in Management: The Case of Germany

On this point and the argument that follows, see also Burr (2011).

The traditional diploma curriculum usually lasted 8–12 semesters. The student was able to complete the full undergraduate and graduate program at one university. After 4–6 semesters there was an intermediate examination (Vordiplom), which had to be passed in order for the student to continue the program of study. However, this intermediate examination was not (like the bachelor’s degree today) recognized as the qualified completion of a degree. Typical of the old diploma curriculum was a relatively small bureaucracy and high flexibility in the temporal organization of studies, as well as many choices in determining the combination of subjects. Students enjoyed a high degree of academic freedom. The graduate part of the program after the Vordiplom had fewer mandatory deadlines and rules for students than the currently established bachelor and master’s degree programs. The number of tests during the program was also significantly lower. At the end of the diploma program and after the completion of a diploma thesis there was a comprehensive final exam (diploma), in which the entire curriculum (usually 4–6 semesters after the completion of the intermediate examination) was covered in five written examinations and the same number of oral exams. For students, this meant a very intensive learning effort at the end of the program, but it helped them to understand the relationships between the different subjects.

Note that most universities in the German-speaking countries prefer the term “faculty” to the term “school”. The Mannheim Business School and the Goethe Business School (at Frankfurt) are private institutions founded by and closely related to university faculties, with the aim to offer fee-based part-time study programs. Private universities with a sole focus on business administration-related programs, such as the ESMT European School of Technology and Management or the Cologne Business School, tend to name themselves “school”.

Due to these problems, some of these projects have failed relatively quickly, such as the private Hanseuniversität Rostock.

Note that this “general orientation” does not imply an extended inclusion of liberal arts subjects, as is usually the case in the US system. One reason for this—and for the fact that many bachelor’s programs are scheduled only for six semesters—is that the German high school system traditionally spans 13 years and was assumed to include more liberal arts subjects than in, for example, US high schools. Recently, the number of school years has reduced from 13 to 12, making this argument somewhat obsolete. However, due to the many criticisms that have arisen, it remains to be seen whether the 12-year timeframe will hold as the general model.

See www.mbr.bwl.uni-muenchen.de

In this section, the term “faculty” is used to characterize the group of people who do the teaching and research at academic institutions. See also note 3, above.

Note that the VHB had approximately 2,300 members in 2014, including, however, postdocs, and junior as well as retired professors (at the university level). On the other hand, not all professors have to be VHB members.

Similarly, statistics providers such as Statistisches Bundesamt, on which we rely in this chapter, often use broadly defined terms such as “Economics and Business Administration”, indicating that the disciplinary differentiation may be less complete than suggested in the introductory section above.

http://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/2140/umfrage/anzahl-der-deutschen-studenten-nach-studienfach/

The future prospects of business engineering are further explored in Baumgarten et al. (2015).

See http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/european-business-school-rankings-2014

http://vhbonline.org/en/service/jourqual/