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HIGHER EDUCATION

These are Germany’s 11 best ‘young’ universities

A new Times Higher Education (THE) ranking shows which of Germany’s universities created after the Second World War are among the very best in the world.

Published: 5 April 2017 16:00 CEST
These are Germany's 11 best 'young' universities
A robot created by the University of Bremen's technology centre. Photo: DPA.

The rankings released on Wednesday by Times Higher Education picked the best 200 universities worldwide that are 50 years old or younger.

Germany had 11 institutions on the list, including five institutions in the top 30.

“Germany also leads a new ‘millennial’ table of the best universities founded after 2000, with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in first place and the University of Duisburg-Essen at joint third, suggesting that it has a promising future in the Under 50 list in the years to come,” said THE rankings editor Phil Baty in a statement.

Baty further noted Germany’s big investment in higher education in recent years, including its €4.6 billion Excellence Initiative, which was launched in 2006 to help launch its academic institutions into the “global research elite”.

SEE ALSO: Germany's top ten universities

“Federal and state funding for higher education has increased by more than €8 billion between 2005 and 2013 to reach €26.7 billion,” Baty added. “It spends 2.9 per cent of its GDP on research and development – more than the UK, US and China.

“Germany’s great strength in depth and claim of high positions in the table will serve it well in the years to come.”

1. Ulm University

Photo: Ulm University Press Office.

It’s perhaps not so surprising the this university in the birthplace of Albert Einstein places a major emphasis on the science. Founded in 1967, it ranked eighth worldwide among “young” universities, and leaped up above others from its place at 13th last year.

Part of this improvement in the rankings is due to the “dramatically improved” scores for research, environment and industry income, Baty said.

Ulm has a focus on medicine and natural sciences, and master’s students often work on their theses closely with major corporations like BMW, Daimler or Continental.

2. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Atmospheric aerosol researchers at KIT. Photo: DPA

Another Baden-Württemberg institute, KIT was ranked ninth overall and tied with Italy’s Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. In a prior THE ranking last year of the best universities for landing a job, KIT came in 81st place worldwide, and seventh in Germany.

SEE ALSO: These German universities are best for landing a job

It was only founded in 2009 after a merger of the University of Karlsruhe and the Karlsruhe Research Center. However, its predecessor the University of Karlsruhe dates back to 1825. So this one perhaps had a bit of a leg-up on the others in the rankings.

The University of Karlsruhe produced Karl Benz – the inventor of what is considered to be the first practical motorcar. And another former student was Karl Ferdinand Braun, creator of the cathode ray tube used in televisions.

3. University of Duisburg-Essen

Photo: DPA

Another young, merger university, this institute is made up of two former universities in the Ruhr valley that joined in 2003. Its position in the rankings shot up to 13th place worldwide from 17th in 2016.

It’s also one of the largest German universities with more than 40,000 students, 12 percent of whom are international.

4. Bielefeld University

Photo: DPA

It might be hard to believe that a town that allegedly doesn’t exist somehow has a university, ranked 22nd by THE. But since 1969, this institute has indeed established itself as an interdisciplinary research facility.

It is particularly noted for its mathematics, engineering and technology programmes.

5. Bayreuth University

Photo: DPA

This Bavarian university comes in at number 29 and was founded in 1975. Bayreuth University has a commitment to maintaining an “international outlook”, according to THE. One in four of its doctoral researchers are non-German, and there is even an International Office dedicated to helping foreign students adjust to German life.

One of its notable graduates is Auma Obama – the half sister of the former US President.

6. University of Bremen

Photo: DPA

Founded in 1971, this Bremen university first started with the aim of training teachers. But now it offers a wide range of programmes, from engineering to the humanities.

It prides itself in particular on its scientific departments, specifically ocean and climate research, materials science, information-cognition-communication, social sciences, health sciences, and logistics. The University of Bremen was ranked 41 worldwide for young universities.

7. Technical University of Dortmund

Photo: DPA

Dating back to 1968, this Ruhr valley uni’s formation came amid changing economic times for the area.

“It was established at a time of decline in the country’s coal and steel industry and its emergence coincided with an economic shift away from heavy industry and towards technology,” writes THE.

“Today, TU is known for its innovation in physics, electrical engineering, chemistry and economics.”

It was ranked 45 worldwide by THE.

8. University of Kaiserslautern

Photo: DPA

This research-based university, founded in 1970, is the only sole technology and natural sciences uni in its state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Some of its key areas of focus include electrotechnology, electrical and computer engineering, and computer science.

THE ranked Kaiserslautern 62nd worldwide.

9. University of Siegen

Photo: University of Siegen Press Office.

This uni dating back to 1972 has a motto of “creating a humane future”. The North Rhine-Westphalia institute is primarily a research university, and was ranked 68 by THE, not having made it onto the list last year.

Its notable alumni include Siemens energy sector CEO Wolfgang Dehen, as well as boxing Olympian Peter Hussing and German-Canadian filmmaker Uwe Boll, who has been called the “world’s worst director”.

Another fun fact cite by THE: the town Siegen is home to the world’s smallest museum of Beatles memorabilia.

10. Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg

Photo: DPA

This relative baby of universities was only founded in 1993, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall and end to the Cold War when its state of Saxony-Anhalt in former East Germany became reunited with the rest of the country.

The university, ranked lower than 100 by THE, focuses on engineering, natural sciences, medicine, economics, management, social sciences and humanities.

But despite existing for a little over two decades, the Magdeburg university has produced such prominent international dignitaries as former Bulgarian Foreign Affairs Minister Rumiana Jeleva.

11. University of Paderborn

Photo: DPA

Though the original University of Paderborn existed between 1614 and 1819, the modern incarnation opened in 1972. It was ranked below 100 by THE.

Its Faculty of Cultural Sciences is the largest, and includes crossover teaching in gender studies, comparative theology and linguistics. The Heinz Nixdorf Institute has one of the largest computers in the world.

EDUCATION

English-language programmes at Danish universities face cuts

Denmark's government has agreed on a plan to significantly reduce the number of courses offered in English in the country's universities.

Published: 2 July 2021 16:31 CEST
English-language programmes at Danish universities face cuts
Life sciences faculty hold an open house at Copenhagen University. The university is now expected to reduce admissions as part of a plan to decentralise higher education in Denmark. Photo: Thomas Lekfeldt / Ritzau Scanpix

At the end of June, the plan aims to reduce the number of English-language higher education programmes while also expanding educational opportunities outside of Denmark’s major cities.

The exact number of courses to be cut – and where they will be cut – depends on the future employment of graduates.

Cuts to English-language programmes

The reduction of English-language programmes at institutions of higher education is rooted in an effort to reduce rising costs of state educational grants (SU) in Denmark. Despite attempts to reduce SU expenses, the cost is expected to rise to 570 million kroner by 2025, far above the cap of 449 million kroner set in 2013. 

There are a number of cases in which non-Danish citizens are entitled to SU, from moving to Denmark with one’s parents, marrying a Danish citizen, residing in Denmark for more than 5 years, status as a worker in Denmark, and more.

The reduction is targeted at English-language programmes where few English-speaking students find employment in Denmark after graduation, according to Denmark’s Ministry of Education and Research. 

Among the targeted programmes are business academies and professional bachelor programmes, where 72 percent of students are English-speaking and only 21 percent find work in Denmark after completing their education. 

However, programmes where higher proportions of English students enter the Danish workforce, and those that have a unique significance on the regional labour market, will be exempt from the reduction. This amounts to 650 education institutions around the country. 

In 2016, students demonstrated against cuts in SU. Photo: Emil Hougaard / Ritzau Scanpix

The agreement also establishes a financial incentive for institutions that graduate English-speaking students who remain to work in Denmark.

According to a June 10 analysis from consulting firm Deloitte, EU students who receive higher education in Denmark contribute an average of nearly 650,000 kroner to Denmark’s public coffers over a lifetime. 

However, the report notes, a student’s positive or negative contribution depends on how long they stay in Denmark. Although students who leave Denmark shortly after graduating constitute a cost to the Danish state, the analysis found that the contribution of students who stay in Denmark to work offsets the cost of those who leave.

The analysis expressed concern that reducing opportunities for English-language higher education could “have a number of unintended negative consequences,” including deterring students who might stay in Denmark to work from moving in the first place. There’s also the risk that it will become more difficult to recruit foreign researchers to Danish universities, which could impact education quality, the analysis claims.

The UCN professional school in Thisted is expected to open one new training program as a result of the decentralisation plan. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

Decentralisation of Danish education

The plan to decentralise higher education in Denmark not only expands educational opportunities outside of Denmark’s major cities, but it also aims to reduce enrollment in higher education within major cities by 10 percent by 2030 (but not more than 20 percent).

For example, a law programme will be established in Esbjerg, a medical programme in Køge and a veterinary programme in Foulum.

Minister of Education and Research Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen said the goal was to offer students educational opportunities regardless of where they live within Denmark and strengthen the economy outside of major cities. 

However, the Danish Chamber of Commerce, Dansk Erhverv, expressed concern that the decentralisation plan doesn’t factor in labour demands within Denmark’s major cities.

Mads Eriksen, head of education and research policy at Dansk Erhverv, said it was “unwise” for programmes to reduce acceptance rates to in-demand fields in that particular city. 

“They are trying to solve a problem with labour in the countryside, but at the same time they are creating labour problems in the cities,” Eriksen said. “The English-language programme cuts are far more aligned with the demands of the labour market.”

Denmark has utilised unemployment-based admission for higher education since 2015. Programmes whose graduates experience unemployment consistently 2 percent higher than average are subject to a 30 percent admission cut.

Eriksen thinks it shouldn’t be a matter of reducing admissions across several universities by

“For example, we have five philosophy education programmes in Denmark, each of which have high unemployment rates among graduates,” Eriksen said, referencing a recent Dansk Erhverv analysis. 

He would prefer to see resources concentrated into making a couple of those programmes the best they can be and closing the rest, versus reducing admissions in all five programmes. “We have to be ready to close programmes that continue to have high unemployment, not just reduce them.”

In 2018, the University of Southern Denmark closed one English-language program and converted two from English to Danish. Photo: Tim Kildeborg Jensen / Ritzau Scanpix

Opposite impacts on provincial institutions

Gitte Sommer Harrits, vice chancellor at VIA University College, shared concern that although the decentralised education aspect of the plan aims to increase the number of students at provincial universities, the reduction of English-language programmes is likely to have the opposite effect.

A report from the organisation Akademikerne in early June found that international students have played a significant role filling educational institutions outside of Danish cities. Nine of the 10 educational institutions with the largest proportion of English-speaking students are outside the country’s largest cities. 

The University of Southern Denmark in Sønderborg has the highest proportion of international students; 40 percent of its 628 students are not affiliated with Denmark or other Nordic countries. 

While significantly larger with nearly 37,000 students, Copenhagen University has 5.2 percent international students.

Already in 2018, the University of Southern Denmark closed one English-language programme and converted two others from English to Danish after the Danish government ordered universities to reduce the number of international students.

Harrits said she found the possible closure of English-language programmes drawing international students to provincial areas to be puzzling when paired with the intention to decentralise education.

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