The President of the German Rectors' Conference (HRK) today called for the states to reach agreement as soon as possible on a framework for accreditation that provides legal certainty. His remarks were addressed to the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany, the KMK, which had originally aimed to reach a treaty between the federal states on the matter last week.
"Given that all the signs pointed to agreement in the run-up, the universities are understandably very concerned that the KMK has deferred the issue until December," said HRK President Prof Dr Horst Hippler after today's meeting of the HRK Senate. "The Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs were heading in the right direction in trying to avoid isolated solutions by reaching a treaty between the federal states – as urged by the HRK – and to respond to the call by the Federal Constitutional Court for a greater role for academia in the accreditation process. These steps are necessary, and must now be completed as quickly as possible."
According to the President, the German Rectors' Conference itself plans to present further specific proposals for a restructure of the accreditation system before the end of the year. "The KMK must establish a constitutional framework; the universities must draw on their experience to help design the procedures so that they are academically based, require a tenable amount of effort, and are geared to the future," says Hippler.
