German and American Higher Education in Comparison: Is the American System Relevant for Germany?

This paper serves as an introduction to a conference devoted to a comparison of higher education in Germany and the United States and how the two systems cope with contemporary pressures and seek to take advantage of opportunities. Using the example of the University of California, it raises questions concerning how a higher education institution copes with growth while assuring, to the extent feasible, a number of desired outcomes related to student attainments, scholarship and research, and reasonable efficiency and cost among others.