How Private Universities Could Help to Improve Public Ones

A.There are many rich Germans. In 2003 private assets are estimated to have been worth ?5 trillion ($5.6 trillion)， half of which belongs to the richest tenth of the population. But with money comes stinginess， especially when it comes to giving to higher education. America devotes twice as much of its income to universities and colleges as Germany (2.6% of GDP， against 1.1%) mainly because of higher private spending—and bigger donations.

B.Next year’s figures should be less embarrassing. In November Klaus Jacobs， a German-born billionaire living abroad， announced that he would donate ?200m to the International University Bremen ( IUB )—the biggest such gift ever. It saved the IUB ， Germany’s only fully fledged private and international university (with 30 programmes and 1，000 students from 86 countries) from bankruptcy. It may also soften the country’s still rigid approach to higher education.

C.German higher education has long been almost entirely a state-run affair， not least because universities were meant to produce top civil servants. After 1945 the German states were put in charge， deciding on such details as examination and admission rules. Reforms in the 1970s made things worse by strengthening， in the name of democracy， a layer of bureaucracy in the form of committees of self-governance.

D.Tuition fees were scrapped in the name of access for all. But ever-rising student numbers then met ever-shrinking budgets， so the reforms backfired. Today the number of college drop-outs is among the highest in the rich world， making tertiary education an elite activity： only 22% of young Germans obtain a degree， compared with 31% in Britain and 39% in America. German universities come low in world rankings， so good students often go abroad.

E.In the 1980s it was hoped that private universities might make a difference. Witten-Herdecke University， founded in 1980， was the first. Teaching at IUB， which will change its name to Jacobs University soon， began in 2001. Today， there are 69 (non-faith-based) private institutions of higher learning， up from 24 a decade ago. There is growing competition， particularly among business schools.

F.At the same time the states have been introducing private enterprise into higher education. In 2003 Lower Saxony turned five universities into foundations， with more autonomy. Others have won more control over their own budgets. Some states have also started to charge tuition fees. And in October a jury announced the winners of the first round of the “excellence initiative”—a national competition among universities for extra cash.

G.Yet all this has led to only small improvements. Private universities educate only 3% of Germany’s 2m-odd students， which may be why they find it hard to raise money. It also explains why many focus on lucrative subjects， such as the Bucerius Law School in Hamburg. Others have come to depend on public money. Only recently have rich individuals’ foundations made big investments， as at IUB or at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.

H.Public universities， meanwhile， still have not been granted much autonomy. There is less direct control， but far more “administered competition”： a new bureaucracy to check the achievement of certain goals. This might all be avoided through price competition， but tuition fees， now ?1，000 a year on average， are fixed centrally by each state. The excellence initiative is a mere drop in the bucket.

I.That is why Mr. Jacobs’s donation matters. For the first time， Germany will have a private university worth the name and with a solid financial footing (if it keeps up its academic performance， that is： Mr Jacobs has promised to donate ?15m annually over the next five years and another ?125m in 2011 to boost the endowment， but only if things go well)。 If it works， other rich Germans may be tempted into investing in higher education too.

J.Even so， private universities will play a small part in German higher education for the foreseeable future. This does not mean that public universities should be privatised. But they need more autonomy and an incentive to compete with one another—whether for students， staff or donors. With luck， Mr Jacobs’s gift will not only induce other German billionaires to follow suit， but also help to persuade the states to set their universities free.

Do the following statemets reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 1?

Write your answer in Boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

TRUE if the statement reflets the claims of the writer

FALSE if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

NOT GIVEN if it is possbile to say what the writer thinks about this

1. Mr. Jacob‘s donation to the IUB is more likely to result in a firmer approach to the managemnt of German higher education.

2. German higher education is a mainly state-run affair primarily because universities were intended to train top civil servants.

3. The reforms in the sector of German tertiaray education in the 1970s produced the opposite result to the one which it intended.

4. The Bucerius Law School in Hamburg offers profitable business opprtunities for its students to make money for tuition fees.

5. Mr. Jacob would like to donate ?125 million annually over the next five years to IUB on the condition that things go well .

6. Private universities will continue to play a small role in German higher education for quite a long period of time in the future.

Complet the following sentencces.

Choose A FIGURE (NUMBER OR PERCENTAGE) from Reading Passage 1 for each answer.

Write your answer in Boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet.

7. German government spends ______of its GDP on the sectorof higher education.

8. ______ less of young people obtain a degree in Germany than in America.

9. There are ______more private insitutions of higher learning now than a decade ago.

10.Currently， there are over ______million German students studying in universities.

Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 11-13 on your answe sheet.

11. Which of the following features about German higher education is NOT true：

A. The number of studenst drop out in the tertiary educatoin is one of the highest among the rich countries in the world.

B. The universities have a higher position in the scale of the world concerning the number of students obtaining a degree.

C. The public univerities exercise fairly less autonomy and they also experience more “administratered competition ”。

D. The competition among the private universities is becoming incresingly tough and it is espceially true of business schools.

12. The word “scrapped” in the first line of the fourth paragraph means___________.

A. raised

B. lowered

C. charged.

D. cancelled

13. What benefits will Jacob‘s donation bring about for German tertiaray education?

A. It will enable the International univerity Bremen to have a tight financial base.

B. It will cause the other wealthiest Gemans to save as much money as he does .

C. It will help the states grant more authority to their univerisites in the future.

D. It will tempt the good students studying abroad for a degree to return to Germany.

Keys and explanations to the Questions 1-13

1. False

Explanation：

See the last sentence in Paragraph B “It may also soften the country’s still rigid approach to higher education.”

2. True

Explanation：

See the first sentence in Paragraph C “…not least because universities were meant to produce top civil servants”。

3. True

Explanation：

See the second sentence in Paragraph D “But ever-rising student numbers then met ever-shrinking budgets， so the reforms backfired”

4. NOT GIVEN

Explanation：

See the third sentence in Paragraph G “It also explains why many focus on lucrative subjects， such as the Bucerius Law School in Hamburg.”

5. False

Explanation：

See the third sentence in Paragraph I “Mr. Jacobs has promised to donate ?15m annually over the next five years and another ?125m in 2011 to boost the endowment， but only if things go well”。

6. True

Explanation：

See the first sentence in Paragraph J “Private universities will play a small part in German higher education for the foreseeable future.”。

7. 1.1%

Explanation：

See the last sentence in Paragraph A “America devotes twice as much of its income to universities and colleges as Germany (2.6% of GDP， against 1.1%)。”

8. 17%

Explanation：

See the thrid sentence in Paragraph D “…only 22% of young Germans obtain a degree， compared with 31% in Britain and 39% in America……”

9. 45

Explanation：

See the fourth sentence in Paragraph E “…Today， there are 69 (non-faith-based) private institutions of higher learning， up from 24 a decade ago”

10. 2

Explanation：

See the second sentence in Paragraph G “…Private universities educate only 3% of Germany’s 2m-odd students…”。

11. B.

Explanation：

See the last two sentence in Paragraph D “… only 22% of young Germans obtain a degree， compared with 31% in Britain and 39% in America. German universities come low in world rankings…”。

12. D

Explanation：

See the first sentence in Paragraph D “Tuition fees were scrapped in the name of access for all.”

13. C

Explanation：

See the second sentence in Paragraph J “…Mr Jacobs’s gift will not only induce other German billionaires to follow suit， but also help to persuade the states to set their universities free.”

subtitle “Fold failure”： There are five metres of space between the two arrays at their closest points.