
The German Rectors' Conference (
German: ''Hochschulrektorenkonferenz'' – HRK) is the
voluntary association
A voluntary group or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, common-interest association, association, or society) is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement, usually as volunteers, to form a body (or organization) to a ...
of state and state-recognised universities and other
higher education
Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education.
The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...
institutions in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. It currently has 271 member institutions at which around 90 per cent of all students in Germany are registered.
The HRK deals with all issues relating to the role and tasks of higher education institutions in academia and society, especially teaching and studying, research, innovation and transfer, scientific further training, internationalisation, and university self-administration and governance.
The German Rectors' Conference is managed and represented externally by a nine-member Executive Board. Walter Rosenthal, a medical doctor, has been President of the HRK since May 2023. Fundamental decisions and recommendations are made by the General Assembly (formerly the Plenum), which meets twice a year, and by the Senate.
The HRK maintains offices in Bonn, Berlin and Brussels. The HRK's financial and legal entity is the Foundation for the Promotion of the German Rectors' Conference. Its library has one of the largest special collections on higher education and science policy in the Federal Republic of Germany, with over 70,000 monographs, 800 current journals and the printed lecture directories of all German universities since 1945.
The HRK runs a number of projects under its umbrella, including the project "MODUS - Mobilität und Durchlässigkeit stärken: Anerkennung und Anrechnung an Hochschulen" and offers universities an audit of their internationalization strategies. Together with the Bertelsmann Foundation, it founded the non-profit Center for Higher Education Development (CHE) in 1994 as a think tank and consultancy for the reform of the German higher education system.
See also
*
Open access in Germany
References
External links
Official Website
Organisations based in Bonn
Higher education in Germany
Science policy in Germany
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