The Transition from ‘Rank Equality’ to Vertical Differentiation in the German Higher Education Sector

Abstract

Different to the Anglo-Saxon and French systems, higher education in Germany has for a long time been only marginaly stratified. Higher education institutions of the same type did not differ by rank. This chapter analyses the reasons why so far no ‘elite’-sector as a premise for the institutionalization of rank differences has been established. Based on these observations it sketches out the recent structural changes and efforts to establish vertical distinctions within higher education.