Teaching, learning and research at German higher education institutions
are facing a number of challenges. Whereas in Great Britain the concern
of quality assurance in higher education was accompanied by a strong
political will that was substantiated by a government programme to
increase (financial, intellectual, structural) investment in education, the
German situation looks like an almost complete inversion. The debates
about quality assurance in Germany’s higher education institutions are
situated in the midst of turbulent discussions between universities and
politicians: Since the early 1980s students, teachers and researchers in
Germany have been confronted with unsustainable financial conditions
and – in spite of great political rhetorics on the importance of education
and knowledge – a lack of thorough political support and sound political
actions. Therefore, improvements in quality assurance are expected at
times of parsimony and shrinking room for manoeuvre