ABSTRACT
Starting from the thesis of Joseph Ben-David that the paradigmatic character of the German universities in the nineteenth century was largely linked to the expansion of—and the implicit competition within—that system of higher education. This chapter discusses the historical development of the American, English, and German universities and accounts for the present-day situation of those models. In the historical overview, it analyses the functional differences in the university traditions of England and Germany, and explains the internal differentiation of the American research universities in relation to those traditions. In the German-speaking realm, the situation changed dramatically under the influence of the philosophers of Idealism and the Prussian administrators who were responsible for the fundamental reform of the universities in the beginning of the nineteenth century. It has also dawned upon German politicians that competition and quality orientation among universities is of vital importance if they are to be internationally recognized players in the scientific community.
