High teaching loads, little research and scarce resources - these are often the conditions under which those who hold a professorship at a private university work. A study provides an insight into the academic sphere, which has so far received little attention.

Around ten per cent of all students in German are enrolled at the more than one hundred private German universities. However, research has so far hardly taken a look at how learning and teaching takes place there. Thanks to a recent study, more is now known about the situation of professors in particular: A pronounced focus on teaching, manageable research funding and limited financial resources characterise the reality of their work. Four out of five respondents are generally satisfied or very satisfied with their work - but there are numerous individual criticisms of the general conditions.

The findings come from a research project conducted by the University of Oldenburg, the Northern Business School Hamburg and the University of Wuppertal, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Around 1,200 professors responded to a questionnaire, just under a quarter of those contacted. Comments were added to one in six, which the researchers analysed qualitatively. These comments are not representative. Nevertheless, they provide an illuminating insight into the personnel situation.

Branch structure leads to burdens

The proportion of private universities in Germany has grown significantly since the turn of the millennium and now accounts for a good quarter of all academic institutions. The private sector of the academic world includes small campus universities as well as education providers with several locations. This branch structure can obviously lead to considerable stress, as one commentary shows: Teaching at four different locations across Germany in one semester is nerve-wracking due to the additional travelling involved. Another comment complains that instead of flexible working hours, there are only fixed, standardised time slots throughout Germany.

There is also apparently a tight corset in terms of content in some places: scripts and teaching materials are standardised and written exams are set centrally. There is an obligation to keep records and rights of use must be granted for an unlimited period of time, even for self-created materials - such employer specifications aimed at comprehensive usability are understandably perceived as an imposition.

Limited autonomy

The fact that external teaching content has to be taught is criticised in other comments and perceived as a loss of autonomy - a frequently recurring point of criticism that is primarily due to business management and the pronounced market orientation. Even academic self-administration appears to be under threat at some private universities. Committees are told by the management which decisions are to be made. A key aspect that restricts autonomy is that there is no civil servant relationship and the private university is the direct employer of the professors.

In open responses, it is not unusual for more criticism than praise to be expressed. However, there are also comments that name a whole series of advantages that a private university has over a public university: less arrogance and more interesting biographies, greater openness and more willingness to make an effort. The only disadvantages are the lower salary and lack of additional benefits. Some statements also emphasise quick decisions, a low organisational burden and a high degree of digitalisation. Other voices, on the other hand, describe private institutions as old-fashioned and anti-innovation companies - the assessments vary widely.

Research as a private pleasure?

At the mostly application-orientated private universities, the focus is on teaching. Some professors consider the commitment to teaching quality to be more pronounced than at public universities. In contrast, incentives and funding for research are extremely limited, as can be seen from the lack of reimbursement of travel expenses or publication grants. There also appears to be a lack of other resources: At some universities, permanent professors are not even given a notebook, telephone or desk. Due to a lack of offices, a large part of their time has to be spent on administration. Research activities, publications or editorships are carried out on a voluntary basis or in their spare time, as one commentary describes. Those who nevertheless want to conduct research are caught between the conflicting priorities of profile building, the pressure to refinance and limited resources - even though the principle of freedom of research also applies to private universities.

Being caught between market and academic values is summarised in one re-registering student as follows: The management, which is closely oriented towards business management, thinks primitively with regard to research funding and teaching. Degree programmes and research projects would be terminated or prevented if they promised too little profit. The fact that private universities have to secure their existence independently under considerable competitive pressure leads to a harsh judgement in one commentary: the market-oriented development of programmes leads to a randomly thrown together range of courses.

Between frustration and high satisfaction

The range of consistently positive, cautious and extremely negative comments reflects the great heterogeneity of private institutions. On the one hand, the re-registering students show that research and teaching depend heavily on individual commitment - which is no different at public institutions. On the other hand, the feedback points to special features resulting from the market orientation.

Overall, the re-registering students paint a mixed picture of the situation of professors at private universities. It should be noted that the comments are not representative; in open surveys, critical statements usually predominate. The overall survey shows a generally high to very high level of satisfaction - around 80 per cent of respondents ticked the relevant boxes. Respondents are therefore particularly satisfied with their actual work as a professor and with the co-operation between colleagues. The picture is mixed when it comes to teaching commitments and facilities. Respondents were particularly dissatisfied with research funding, salary and university management.

Further information on the research project can be found at: www.propriho.com