ABSTRACT
Those who wish to understand the German system of higher education in its present-day state must first look back to the beginning of the nineteenth century — which was the beginning of the ‘era of the bourgeoisie’. Since the end of the eighteenth century, more than half of the forty-two universities in the German-speaking area had had to close their doors. Those remaining were academic vocational and specialized schools. The reform which began at that time did not, however, grow directly out of this crisis, but from the new Berlin University, which had been founded by the philosophers of German idealism and enlightened, liberally-minded Prussian civil servants. The founding of the Berlin University was completed by Wilhelm von Humboldt in 1809–10. Within the space of a few years, universities similar to it were founded at Breslau and Bonn.
