ABSTRACT
The direction of change and the contours of the evolving system of higher education in East Germany are clearly visible if people take a long-term perspective. The turmoil in East German higher education, however, will continue for quite some time. The structural transformation of East German higher education is taking place on three levels: interrelationship with government, structures of the system as a whole and institutional structures. In fields like economics, business administration, political science and law, there were hardly any East German academics who would be able to teach that content which had not been taught previously and which had been "enemy territory" for Eastern researchers. Though the peaceful revolution of 1989 has spurred initiatives for changes at the institutional level, the restructuring and renewal of East German higher education was mainly top-down. Changes of and in higher education systems have always been a major topic of sociological theories of higher education, especially in a comparative perspective.
