Too Many Students and Not Enough Chairs in Germany’s Universities

在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。

Professor Benjamin Ortmeyer teaches on the misuses of education during the Nazi era. His lecture hall is designed for 500 people, but 720 students are registered for his course and about 600 show up every week. “I couldn’t understand the students if they didn’t protest,” he said.

And protest they do, as German public universities, already overcrowded, brace for even more students. Florian Muhs, part of a student working group on overcrowding at the University of Frankfurt, says many come to him to complain.

“There are not enough professors, and the rooms are not big enough,” he said.

The group has written an open letter to the president of the university and state officials, and he says the student body might consider protests. “It’s all about getting attention, especially from people who aren’t directly affected by the situation,” Mr. Muhs said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged that Germany would become a republic of education in a widely publicized speech in 2008, and her dream is quickly becoming fulfilled. Several factors are fueling the rise, including a desire for the life opportunities provided by a university education, the abolition of mandatory military service, and a reduction of one year in the high school curriculum.

But Professor Matthias Jaroch, spokesman for the German Association of Professors and Lecturers, says the government is failing to back her vision with cash, causing a crisis of overcrowding. The association demands that the state and federal governments put more money into education. “We are now working at a ratio of 60 students to one professor,” he said. “The system is no longer tenable.”

Some universities say they are trying to plan ahead by hiring more teaching staff and providing more rooms. Academics and experts agree, however, that more government money is needed to fix an outdated system that will have to accommodate a tide of students in the years to come.

About 200,000 students have been added to the university system in the past three years, an increase of about 10 percent, according to the German office of statistics. By 2020, the number of students is expected to grow an additional 300,000 students, Mr. Jaroch said.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe University has seen its student population spike to about 38,000 students, a rise of 7,000 in the past three years, Olaf Kaltenborn, a spokesman for the university, said.

Most departments have enrollments that exceed their capacity, Mr. Kaltenborn said. The department for history and philosophy, for one, is at 170 percent of capacity. The pressure is only expected to rise: the university has set up a task force to deal with the extra students arriving as German high schools eliminate the 13th year of study during the next few years. “We don’t want to be thought of as facing the storm blindly,” Mr. Kaltenborn said.

According to Ms. Eckstein, the student in Mr. Hummrich’s course, students are warned by their peers that because of overcrowding, newcomers like her will not be able to take a full course load. More senior students get preference so that they can graduate.

The first sentence out of the professor’s mouth, she said, is usually, “First semester students have to go.”

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Chaos at Home Stalls Tuition Aid for Libyan Students in U.S.

Now, he has one more thing to worry about.

Like other Libyans studying in the United States, Mr. Mohamed has had his tuition at the English-language school he attends in Denver, and the living expenses for his family here, paid by the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

But with $30 billion of its assets frozen by the United States, Libya has stopped financing its American scholarship program, which has enough money to last only until June 1. That leaves students like Mr. Mohamed at risk of having to drop out of school, which could ultimately render them illegal.

Even worse, Mr. Mohamed and other students say their families have warned them not to return to Libya, given their public participation in anti-Qaddafi protests here.

“Once the program ends next month, we will have to pay our bills, our rent,” Mr. Mohamed said. “For me, I don’t have the money to cover even one month.”

The situation has left Libyan students in the United States — and the Canadian nonprofit organization that administers the scholarship program — fearful of an immigration morass if a quick solution cannot be found.

“What we want to see is that the students who are here with their families to study can continue doing so and not get caught up in unintended consequences of a much bigger matter,” said Jennifer Humphries, a vice president for the Canadian Bureau for International Education, the nonprofit that runs the program.

There are about 2,000 Libyan students, mostly in universities and English-language programs, across the United States, according to bureau officials. Colorado is home to nearly 400 of them, the most of any state.

Ever since the Bush administration reopened diplomatic relations with Libya in 2006, Libyan students have been coming to the United States in growing numbers.

Last year, the Canadian group took over the program from the Libyan Embassy in Washington, and Libya transferred about $126 million to the nonprofit to cover tuition and student living expenses for the current academic year.

But in February, with the onset of the civil war, the United States froze Libya’s assets. The Canadian group later received permission to transfer the money already in its possession into the United States, but no fresh money from the Qaddafi government has arrived, Ms. Humphries said.

In recent days, the Canadian group — which estimates that the cost of the program will jump to $206 million in the coming school year — has sought help from the State Department and the United Nations to unblock some Libyan accounts, hoping to keep the students enrolled.

Edgar Vasquez, a State Department spokesman, said the United States had no plans to unfreeze any Libyan assets for the scholarship program at this time, but was hopeful that a solution could be found.

“Obviously, we want to keep the students here,” Mr. Vasquez said. “We don’t want to have them go back because of the violence that is ongoing.”

Last week, the Canadian group sent an e-mail to schools urging them to defer tuition payments and asking that they lend Libyan students living expenses to last through June, if the scholarship funds indeed run out.

Gasem Rashwan, 31, a Libyan who is getting his doctorate in electrical engineering at the University of Denver, said the situation had become so critical for the students that the United States should release at least a small portion of Libya’s frozen assets.

“The assets belong to the Libyan people,” Mr. Rashwan said. “They don’t belong to Qaddafi’s regime anymore. Part of this money should be spent on students.”

With tension rising between Libyan students who oppose the current government and those who support it, Mr. Rashwan said that he and others Libyans in Colorado have been interviewed in recent weeks by F.B.I. agents asking questions about Colonel Qaddafi.

Meanwhile, the Colorado chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association has been holding meetings with Libyan students here, advising them of their options.

In many cases, that might mean seeking special immigration protections that would allow students to stay and work here temporarily. In certain circumstances, it could mean seeking political asylum.

“There really aren’t very many options available without help from the U.S. government,” said Lisa York, one of the lawyers counseling Libyan students. “My impression is that most of these students want to be able to go home and rebuild their country eventually. But only when it is safe for them to do so.”

In Mr. Mohamed’s case, he has been accepted to a graduate program in pharmaceutics at the University of Louisiana at Monroe in the fall. For the moment, he is unsure how he will pay for it, or whether he will even be permitted to stay in the United states.

“We will stay on the street and stay outside the whole night if we have to,” he said of the students’ plans to coordinate protests across the country this month. “We believe we are the future of Libya.”

 

Chaos at Home Stalls Tuition Aid for Libyan Students in U.S.

Now, he has one more thing to worry about.

Like other Libyans studying in the United States, Mr. Mohamed has had his tuition at the English-language school he attends in Denver, and the living expenses for his family here, paid by the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

But with $30 billion of its assets frozen by the United States, Libya has stopped financing its American scholarship program, which has enough money to last only until June 1. That leaves students like Mr. Mohamed at risk of having to drop out of school, which could ultimately render them illegal.

Even worse, Mr. Mohamed and other students say their families have warned them not to return to Libya, given their public participation in anti-Qaddafi protests here.

“Once the program ends next month, we will have to pay our bills, our rent,” Mr. Mohamed said. “For me, I don’t have the money to cover even one month.”

The situation has left Libyan students in the United States — and the Canadian nonprofit organization that administers the scholarship program — fearful of an immigration morass if a quick solution cannot be found.

“What we want to see is that the students who are here with their families to study can continue doing so and not get caught up in unintended consequences of a much bigger matter,” said Jennifer Humphries, a vice president for the Canadian Bureau for International Education, the nonprofit that runs the program.

There are about 2,000 Libyan students, mostly in universities and English-language programs, across the United States, according to bureau officials. Colorado is home to nearly 400 of them, the most of any state.

Ever since the Bush administration reopened diplomatic relations with Libya in 2006, Libyan students have been coming to the United States in growing numbers.

Last year, the Canadian group took over the program from the Libyan Embassy in Washington, and Libya transferred about $126 million to the nonprofit to cover tuition and student living expenses for the current academic year.

But in February, with the onset of the civil war, the United States froze Libya’s assets. The Canadian group later received permission to transfer the money already in its possession into the United States, but no fresh money from the Qaddafi government has arrived, Ms. Humphries said.

In recent days, the Canadian group — which estimates that the cost of the program will jump to $206 million in the coming school year — has sought help from the State Department and the United Nations to unblock some Libyan accounts, hoping to keep the students enrolled.

Edgar Vasquez, a State Department spokesman, said the United States had no plans to unfreeze any Libyan assets for the scholarship program at this time, but was hopeful that a solution could be found.

“Obviously, we want to keep the students here,” Mr. Vasquez said. “We don’t want to have them go back because of the violence that is ongoing.”

Last week, the Canadian group sent an e-mail to schools urging them to defer tuition payments and asking that they lend Libyan students living expenses to last through June, if the scholarship funds indeed run out.

Gasem Rashwan, 31, a Libyan who is getting his doctorate in electrical engineering at the University of Denver, said the situation had become so critical for the students that the United States should release at least a small portion of Libya’s frozen assets.

“The assets belong to the Libyan people,” Mr. Rashwan said. “They don’t belong to Qaddafi’s regime anymore. Part of this money should be spent on students.”

With tension rising between Libyan students who oppose the current government and those who support it, Mr. Rashwan said that he and others Libyans in Colorado have been interviewed in recent weeks by F.B.I. agents asking questions about Colonel Qaddafi.

Meanwhile, the Colorado chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association has been holding meetings with Libyan students here, advising them of their options.

In many cases, that might mean seeking special immigration protections that would allow students to stay and work here temporarily. In certain circumstances, it could mean seeking political asylum.

“There really aren’t very many options available without help from the U.S. government,” said Lisa York, one of the lawyers counseling Libyan students. “My impression is that most of these students want to be able to go home and rebuild their country eventually. But only when it is safe for them to do so.”

In Mr. Mohamed’s case, he has been accepted to a graduate program in pharmaceutics at the University of Louisiana at Monroe in the fall. For the moment, he is unsure how he will pay for it, or whether he will even be permitted to stay in the United states.

“We will stay on the street and stay outside the whole night if we have to,” he said of the students’ plans to coordinate protests across the country this month. “We believe we are the future of Libya.”