The effort to improve German universities still has a long way to go

by E Wayne Ross on July 2, 2009

The Economist: Germany’s mediocre universities, On shaky foundations

The effort to improve German universities still has a long way to go

THE IG FARBEN building in Frankfurt has a history. This is where Zyklon B gas, used at Auschwitz, was invented and Dwight Eisenhower later worked. Now it is part of an €1.8 billion ($2.5 billion) building project at Frankfurt’s Goethe University. Not for Goethe’s 35,000 students the grotty campuses of others: the “House of Finance” has a marble floor inspired by Raphael’s fresco “The School of Athens.”