Die Freie Universität Berlin vor dem Börsengang?

Bemerkungen zur Ökonomisierung der Wissenschaft.

Abstract

In his farewell lecture as professor of political science, Bodo Zeuner analyses the process of turning universities into businesses, taking as an example the Free University of Berlin which was ranked as the most entrepreneurial university of Germany in 2006. Turning academic institutions of research and learning into businesses means transforming them into profit-seeking companies, the commodification of their output, fostering ruinous competition among them, and the elimination of all forms of internal democracy and codetermination. As a "business model" project, it is full of inconsistencies. And while chances for resistance are available, they do not all point in the same direction.