Monday 9 March 2015

Schnitzel University

Germany used to be associated with well built cars, obsessional car manuals, and autobahns without speed limits. It is very hard to get German academics to talk about what is happening in their universities, which were formerly held in high regard, despite the risks of one’s cheek being slashed by a rapier.

Now I get a smudged note smuggled out to me, barely legible, with the following plaintive message:

As reported in Leberwurst University, there is no compulsory attendance at seminars here at Schnitzel. This leads to very low student attendances at seminars. For example, at my last last seminar there were only three students.
But my research assistant told me about a practice which is the height of madness:
There are seminars with only one student. Next week another student shows up, not the same as last week, gives his presentation to receive his credit points and then leaves, not to be seen again.
But there is then a legal problem: There are no other witnesses to assess the presentation and give a grading.
So the research assistants (Drs. etc., who in German system are not yet Prof.) invite another research assistant to attend the seminar as a legal witness.
At the end, one student, two instructors.

Is this absurdity restricted to German universities? Any other examples of daft practices in universities gratefully received.

Full anonymity provided.

11 comments:

  1. This is frightening. Is there anyone who can either contradict these horror stories or else defend this particular educational policy?

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  2. We have close to 100% attendance. I think it's largely a reflection of the expectations Professors set: if you act like you don't expect them to come, they won't. Act like it would be odd if students didn't attend and they will come. Perceived value of the content is a factor as well. Most people enjoy the feeling of having new knowledge and a chance to ditch wrong ideas in private.

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  3. We have close to 100% attendance. I think it's largely a reflection of the expectations Professors set: if you act like you don't expect them to come, they won't. Act like it would be odd if students didn't attend and they will come. Perceived value of the content is a factor as well. Most people enjoy the feeling of having new knowledge and a chance to ditch wrong ideas in private.

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    Replies
    1. Presumably Edinburgh can chose what student it takes. Schnitzel cannot.

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    2. Presumably Edinburgh can chose what student it takes. Schnitzel cannot.

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  4. I had written you a reply, then your abortionate comments system ate it.

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    Replies
    1. I am sorry to hear that, but I do not know what is causing the problem

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  5. In the US, it is sometimes possible to pretend to attend through technology. This has bad consequences when discovered: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/01/08/dartmouth/GN8oLJcgKj7R1nOoPNiLdL/story.html.

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    1. Bit like ignoring a person in distress as you rush off to do a TV interview on the Good Samaritan, as in the famous experiment.

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  6. The low attendance is mostly a result of the "Hochschulzukunftsgesetz" ("law for the future of universities") of that has been passed in the federal state of NRW in October 2014. A major component of this new law is the complete abolition of compulsory attendance for anything other than practical courses, which - in my opinion - is a good thing, considering the current state of German universities.

    Students no longer have to attend seminars due to exam regulations and therefore no longer do so, the main reasons being either a general lack of time (work or more important contemporaneous lectures) or low quality of the courses. The German tertiary education system has been serverly damaged by the Bologna process and now pseudoscientific enterprises such as gender studies proceed to destroy the remains. Sadly, some lecturers do not adapt to the situation by improving their courses, but by making them more exclusive (i.e. not offering slides and scripts).

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  7. Yes, my German colleagues feel very disheartened by the process, which they see as politically driven and very hard to stand up to.

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