This is paradoxical, since in fact the American system is anything but unitary. It is marked, above all, by vast differences in quality between different higher education institutions.
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, “Bologna Process,” →.
Since the federal education reforms of 2006, a legal framework at the federal level no longer exists, as all remaining responsibility for education has been transferred from the federal to the provincial level.
See my habilitation thesis: Dietrich Lemke, Lernzielorientierter Unterricht – revidiert (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1981).
The reason for this absence is the federal reform mentioned in footnote 3.
The role of the Bertelsmann Foundation in achieving this new position of authority for business should not be underestimated. It can be shown that this foundation has had a substantial influence on the Bologna process in Germany, principally via the Centre for Higher Education Development, founded in 1994 by the University Rectors’ Conference, which functioned as a “junior partner” of the Bertelsmann Foundation.
Thus, for example, a working group from the Hans Böckler Foundation recently published new “Guidelines for a Democratic and Social Higher Education.” See “Leitbild für eine demokratische und soziale Hochschule” (February 8, 2010), →.
Translated from the German