DR. KLAUS LANDFRIED

Interview with Dr. Klaus Landfried, President of the Association of Universities and Other Higher Education Institutions in Germany
(the Hochschulrektorenkonferenz), an umbrella organization covering all German higher education institutions, currently with 258 members, including universities and non-doctorate awarding universities of applied sciences (the Fachhochschulen), art and music colleges.

WS: -Could you describe your career, your current position and your role within German universities?

KL: I came from an entrepreneurial family where studying was not highly valued. I suppose that it is one of the reasons I embraced academia. I studied literature, history and political science in Basel, Switzerland and in Heidelberg, Germany. I have a PhD from Heidelberg University and was a Kennedy Research Fellow at Harvard University. Since 1974 I held a chair for Political Sience at the University of Kaiserslautern. In 1987 I was elected President of the University of Kaiserslautern and in 1991 was asked to become Vice President, then President, of the Hochschulrektorenkonferenz. My role is to be the "voice of the universities", to coordinate the public relations and lobbying efforts of universities at the state and federal levels of German government and of course in the society at large. Sometimes I perceive of myself as a sort of lion tamer, a "dompteur" of sorts.

WS: - Germany is one of the leading European countries in receiving foreign students. Can you give us an idea of what kind of numbers we’re talking about?

KL: I would say between 160,000 and 170,000 students. That’s roughly 7 or 8 % of the total student population and four times more than 25 years ago. Places with very high proportions of foreign students are e.g. the universities of Munic, Cologne and Heidelberg in the West and the University of Cottbus in the East.

WS: -Which regions do these students come from? Are there any nationalities which stand out?

KL: We don’t have really a dominant student population from any place. They come from the neighboring countries, like Luxembourg, for example. But we have quite a few students from Eastern Europe as well as a large group from China, and the number of Chinese applicants keeps increasing every year. However the largest group comes from Turkey, due to the high proportion of Turks living in Germany.

WS: - In which study programs are foreign students enrolled? Are there any special international study programs in Germany?

KL: We do have international programs which are supported financially by the Federal Ministry for Higher Education and Research and administered by the German Academic Exchange Service, better known as DAAD. These programs often require knowledge of German language but not always. In terms of the various areas of study, economics and business administration, German studies and engineering are particularly popular with foreign students.

WS: Is there a growing trend of students from abroad coming to study in Germany? How would you describe this development over the last five years? Can you see a future trend?

KL: In Germany, we are very interested in attracting gifted students from what we call "emerging" countries in Asia and Latin America. The same policy seems to be pursued by France, the United States, Canada and the UK. We are particularly interested in students from South Asia (India and Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia). So far, we don't have enough students from these countries. So we've started a marketing drive called Gate Germany aiming at attracting those students. Although we're also interested in talented students from Latin America, there is the language barrier and most of those go to the United States anyway.

WS: What are the conditions like in German universities? What kind of structures are in place to welcome students from abroad? What might be improved?

KL: There's always room for improvement. I believe we need to improve the initial contacts students have with the German experience and that includes bureaucratic regulations regarding immigration, registration and the issuing of work permits. A new law should come into effect next year which will improve this situation. I believe that, at the university level, there should be more tutorial programs encouraging German students to look after foreign students as well as mentorial programs where professors become mentors of foreign students. Although, as I said, there is still much room for improvement, I believe that if you compare the German situation to some French or American campuses, we're not doing too badly.

WS: Do you have any suggestions which might increase the mobility of European Students? What do you think of the idea of trying to make grades equivalent across Europe?

KL: There is no doubt in my mind that we are going to return, and I insist on that term, we are going to return to those times, when all academic courses throughout Europe were the same, somehow more or less the same. Until 1836, for example, the Bachelor or Baccalaureus was a common German degree allowing access to all universities. Now that the mobility of students all over Europe is a given fact, we need an internationally recognized structure of grades and diplomas which enable students to graduate, join the workplace and return to complete a Master’s program if they so wish. This is now a reality all over the world - in Eastern Europe, Russia, China as well as Latin America. There is no doubt that this trend must become the dominant force in Europe as well.

WS: From your point of view, are German students mobile enough? Which countries do they favor? Do German students who want to study abroad choose exchange programs from their universities rather than European exchange programs, or do they organize it themselves?

KL: As far as I know, German students are much more mobile than their counterparts in the rest of Europe, with the exception of the Dutch, who are the most mobile of all. But if you take Europe as a whole, European students are more mobile than students from the rest of the world. German students going abroad use a wide range of programs: there are international programs funded by international or American foundations; there are programs funded directly by the DAAD or by the European Commission and administered by the DAAD. Of course the support by the Erasmus or Socrates programs in financial terms is quite ridiculous, but that is not the point, because German students have learned how to deal with financial problems. We don't really know the exact number of German students who study abroad on their own because we are not monitoring the figures, but I guess it is at least as high as the number of students going away with DAAD programs.

WS: How do you evaluate the work of the DAAD? Do you have common activities?

KL: Almost all international activities of the Hochschulrektorenkonferenz are taking place in cooperation with the DAAD, our "sister"! Our two organizations have very close ties. We are really marching in the same direction. The main task of the Hochschulrektorenkonferenz is to maintain contacts with a wide range of institutions and associations in other countries, discussing issues of mobility, joint programs, transnational PhD or Master’s programs, etc., enabling a student's thesis to be evaluated by two different institutions and two different professors, in two different countries, leading to a joint graduation certificate or diploma. In my view, compared to other international institutions, DAAD is very effective indeed in supporting international mobility of students, staff and professors. I believe that the mobility of students alone is not enough to broaden the mobility of students. Don't forget that the mobility of staff and professors is also very important.

WS: What are your last words of advice for students who want to study abroad?

KL: Well, they should consider going away for at least one year, to give them enough time to gain a new perspective on life, on cultures and ways of thinking other than their own, and of course to learn the language. Going abroad is also a way of understanding that the paradigms, scientific or otherwise, expounded by their professors, are not necessarily the only valid ones.
Of course if they need support, they can seek the advice of the academic department for international relations of their universities, but if they have special questions on international matters, they can e-mail DAAD or the Hochschulrektorenkonferenz.

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