Brown-bag lunch: Higher education funding in Germany over time: explanatory approaches for the shift between stagnation and growth.

Higher Education Funding in Germany over Time: Explanatory Approaches for the Alternation between Stagnation and Growth

Dr. Nicolas Winterhager (Education and Science, Group Leader Science System, VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH, Berlin)

The funding of higher education institutions in Germany has been subject to periodic fluctuations over the course of history. Since 1975, phases of stagnation have alternated with phases of growth. The presentation addresses the question of which factors explain the development of higher education funding in each time context. It is based on data from the Higher Education Statistics (revenues and expenditures for higher education institutions) and the Annual Accounts Statistics (expenditures of corporations for higher education institutions). The results show that higher education funding - after periods of stagnation - always rises significantly when funding from the federal government increases proportionately to that from the states. In each case, the increases are brought about by complementary federal-state programs, which on the one hand aim to admit additional first-year students (HSP1, Higher Education Pact 2020) and on the other hand are intended to maintain the universities' performance in research (HSP 2, HEP, Excellence Initiative).The presentation follows on from the "Investigation of the Impact of the Higher Education Pact 2020", which was conducted in 2017 at the VDI/VDE-IT. In his presentation, Mr. Winterhager will additionally briefly explain the background of this investigation and present further projects and topic areas of the VDI/VDE-IT (Education and Science division).
& nbsp;