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Abstract

Overall, student numbers increased in West Germany, with occasional spurts: twenty-five universities, for example, opened their doors between 1965 and 1975. By contrast, the centrally managed expansion of higher education began earlier in the GDR but was halted by admission quotas in the early 1970s. As a result, the percentage of students in each age group remained constant.

Development of Higher Education in East and West Germany (1960–1990)

Source

Universities and other educational institutions (such as art colleges) in the FRG

Year

Number of
educational institutions

Number of students

Number
of first-year students

Diplomas
and corresponding exams

Teacher-certification exams

Ph.D. exams

Academic personnel

1960

131

246,939

53,313

16,458

11,143

5,874

·

1965

126

308,022

54,430

20,282

20,408

6,971

·

1970

123

421,976

86,649

26,192

25,382

10,515

·

1975

116

691,289

123,405

33,669

40,349

11,418

89,274

1980

114

836,502

126,555

46,331

30,452

12,222

109,698

1985

119

1,035,669

152,766

61,083

22,883

14,951

116,373

1990

126

1,208,018

179,186

81,524

10,231

18,494

135,543

Universities of applied sciences (including colleges for administrative studies) in the FRG

Year

Number of
educational institutions

Number of students

Number
of first-year students

Diplomas
and corresponding exams

Teacher-certification exams

Ph.D. exams

Academic personnel

1975

97

144,713

41,166

31,865

x

x

14,304

1980

115

199,801

49,274

34,675

x

x

17,685

1985

122

301,005

64,643

48,003

x

x

22,639

1990

122

370,988

77,503

55,852

x

x

27,597

Higher education institutions (not counting technical schools) in the GDR

Year

Number of
educational institutions

Number of students

Number
of first-year students

Diplomas
and corresponding exams

Teacher-certification exams

Ph.D. exams

Academic personnel

1960

44

99,860

30,081

·

·

·

·

1965

44

111,591

24,735

14,652

6,226

·

13,184

1970

54

143,163

43,975

15,526

6,694

3,930

21,219

1975

54

136,854

34,390

28,839

7,682

3,496

26,112

1980

53

129,970

31,949

18,065

6,135

3,343

28,848

1985

54

129,885

31,583

18,636

6,410

4,467

30,331

1989

54

131,188

31,531

18,504

5,663

4,545

31,754

Source: Table 14.1. Basic Data on Colleges 1960–1990—FRG and GDR—compiled by the Working Group for Educational Reporting at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Education, Das Bildungswesen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1994, pp. 636–37.