German higher education faces a period of tough transitions

Students at over 50 German universities are staging strikes and other demonstrations to protest underfunding, overcrowding and the proposed imposition of tuition fees within the German higher education system. Costs associated with German reunification have made less government funding available to students and universities, while enrollment has increased substantially. German federal lawmakers hope to alleviate the crisis by drafting a framework law that would give the states and the schools themselves more responsibility for funding and administering German higher education.