Research colloquium: Reflections on the relationship between stratification and elite formation in the German higher education system

Reflections on the relationship between stratification and elite formation in the German higher education system

Alexander Mitterle (Institute of Sociology/Center for School and Educational Research (ZSB), Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle)

German higher education has changed rapidly as a result of the higher education reforms of the past 20 years. Whereas for a long time there was a fiction of equality in access to higher education in Germany, between degrees of the same type and the same discipline, today there is a clear differentiation between admission criteria, content and institutions. The possibility of introducing vertical as well as horizontal distinctions between degree courses has therefore increased. Such stratifications are broken down into disciplines. They are more likely to be found in economics than in Romance studies. Based on case studies in business administration, the lecture reconstructs how stratifications are created in the tense relationship between organization, discipline and labour market. According to the thesis, it is only possible to understand whether and how it is possible for universities to produce elites from the specific logic of each discipline.