HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Numerus clausus'' ("closed number" in
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
) is one of many methods used to limit the number of
student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementa ...
s who may study at a
university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
. In many cases, the goal of the ''numerus clausus'' is simply to limit the number of students to the maximum feasible in some particularly sought-after areas of studies with an intent to keep a constant supply of qualified workforce and thus limit competition. In historical terms however, in some countries, ''numerus clausus'' policies were religious or
racial quota Racial quotas in employment and education are numerical requirements for hiring, promoting, admitting and/or graduating members of a particular racial group. Racial quotas are often established as means of diminishing racial discrimination, addr ...
s, both in intent and function.


Historical use

Countries legislating limitations on the admission of Jewish students, at various times, have included:
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
,
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...
,
Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...
,
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
,
Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
(from 1934 under Kārlis Ulmanis regime),
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
,
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
,
Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its t ...
, and
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
among others.


Selected examples


Germany

A whole series of ''numerus clausus'' resolutions were adopted in 1929 on the grounds of race and place of origin, not religion. On 25 April 1933, the
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
government introduced a 1.5 percent quota for new admissions of German non-Aryans, essentially of German Jews enrolling to German high-schools and universities.


Hungary

The Hungarian ''numerus clausus'' was introduced in 1920. The law formally placed limits on the number of minority students at university and legalized corporal punishment. Though the text did not use the term ''Jew'', it was nearly the only group overrepresented in higher education. The policy is often seen as the first Anti-Jewish Act of twentieth century Europe. Its aim was to restrict the number of Jews to 6 percent, which was their proportion in Hungary at that time; the rate of Jewish students was approximately 15% in the 1910s.Miklos Molnar, ''A Concise History of Hungary'', CUP, 2001 In 1928 – also because of the pressure of liberal capital and League of Nations – the act was modified and the passage of the ethnicity quota had been eliminated. In the period of 1938–1945 the anti-Jewish acts were revitalised and eventually much worsened, partly due to
German Nazi Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
pressure, and in hope of revising the
Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It forma ...
with the help of Germany.


Poland

Polish universities were a hotbed of the radical far-right
National Democracy National Democracy may refer to: * National Democracy (Czech Republic) * National Democracy (Italy) * National Democracy (Philippines) * National Democracy (Poland) * National Democracy (Spain) See also * Civic nationalism, a general concept * ...
and from Poland's independence in 1918 right-wing students promoted the return of the Russian ''numerus clausus'' system. Attempts by the
University of Lwów The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...
to implement ''numerus clausus'' in 1922-3 were ruled unconstitutional. In the early 1930s,
Camp of Great Poland Camp of Great Poland ( pl, Obóz Wielkiej Polski, OWP) was a far-right,Obóz Wielkiej Polski
,
advocated ''numerus nullus'' - a complete exclusion of Jews. In 1931, the All-Polish Youth demonstrated against Jewish medical students operating on Christian cadavers. The medical faculties caved in, and Jewish students were supplied with Jewish cadavers. Polish radicals then demanded segregation of Jewish students, first asking for "voluntary" segregation and when this was refused attacking Jewish students. Following violent demonstrations by Polish radicals, in 1937-8 most Polish universities introduced segregation. By 1939, most Polish institutes of higher learning implemented a ''numerus clausus'' system.


North America

Between 1918 and the 1950s a number of private universities and medical schools in the United States introduced ''numerus clausus'' policies limiting admissions of students based on their religion or race to certain percentages within the college population. Many minority groups were negatively impacted by these policies; one of the groups affected was
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
applicants, whose admission to some
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
- and New York City-area
liberal arts college A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in liberal arts and sciences. Such colleges aim to impart a broad general knowledge and develop general intellectual ca ...
s fell significantly between the late 1910s and the mid-1930s.Getting In: the social logic of Ivy League admissions
by
Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Timothy Gladwell (born 3 September 1963) is an English-born Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1996. He has published seven books: '' The Tipping Point: How Little ...
,
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
, 10 October 2005
For instance, the admission to
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
during that period fell from 27.6% to 17.1% and in
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
from 32.7% to 14.6%. Corresponding quotas were introduced in the medical and dental schools resulting during the 1930s in the decline of Jewish students: e.g. in
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
School of Medicine from 40% in 1918–22 to 3.57% in 1940–41, in
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original cam ...
Medical School from 48.4% in 1929–30 to 12.5% in 1934–35. At
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
, Dean Milton Winternitz's instructions to the admissions office regarding ethnic quotas were very specific: "Never admit more than five Jews, take only two
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
s, and take no blacks at all." During this period, a notable exception among U. S. medical schools was the medical school of
Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries ...
, which had no quotas and many Jewish faculty members and students; school officials believed that antisemitism played a role in the school's failure to secure
AMA Ama or AMA may refer to: Ama Languages * Ama language (New Guinea) * Ama language (Sudan) People * Ama (Ama Kōhei), former ring name for sumo wrestler Harumafuji Kōhei * Mary Ama, a New Zealand artist * Shola Ama, a British singer * Ām ...
accreditation., pp. 42–3: founder's son C. Ruggles Smith quoted: "From its inception, Middlesex was ruthlessly attacked by the American Medical Association, which at that time was dedicated to restricting the production of physicians, and to maintaining an inflexible policy of discrimination in the admission of medical students. Middlesex, alone among medical schools, selected its students on the basis of merit, and refused to establish any racial quotas" The most common method, employed by 90% of American universities and colleges at the time to identify the "desirable" (native-born, white, Protestant) applicants, was the application form questions about their religious preference, race, and nationality. Other more subtle methods included restrictions on scholarships, rejection of transfer students, and preferences for alumni sons and daughters.
Legacy preference Legacy preference or legacy admission is a preference given by an institution or organization to certain applicants on the basis of their familial relationship to alumni of that institution. It is most controversial in college admissions, where st ...
for university admissions was devised in 1925 at
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
, where the proportional number of Jews in the student body was growing at a rate that became alarming to the school's administrators. Prior to that year, Yale had begun to incorporate such amorphous criteria as 'character' and 'solidity', as well as 'physical characteristics', into its admissions process as an excuse for screening out Jewish students; but nothing was as effective as legacy preference, which allowed the admissions board to summarily pass over Jews in favor of 'Yale sons of good character and reasonably good record', as a 1929 memo phrased it. Other schools, including
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, soon began to pursue similar policies for similar reasons, and Jewish students in the
Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...
schools were maintained at a steady 10% through the 1950s. Such policies were gradually discarded during the early 1960s, with Yale being one of the last of the major schools to eliminate the last vestige with the class of 1970 (entering in 1966). While legacy admissions as a way of screening out Jewish students may have ceased, the practice of giving preference to legacies has continued to the present day. In the 1998 book ''The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions'', authors William G. Bowen, former Princeton University president, and
Derek Bok Derek Curtis Bok (born March 22, 1930) is an American lawyer and educator, and the former president of Harvard University. Life and career Bok was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Following his parents' divorce, he, his mother, brother and sist ...
, former Harvard University president, found "the overall admission rate for legacies was almost twice that for all other candidates". The religion preference question was eventually dropped from the admission application forms and noticeable evidence of informal ''numerus clausus'' policies in the American private universities and medical schools decreased by the 1950s. Certain Canadian universities had longstanding quotas on the number of Jews admitted to the respective universities.
McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Univer ...
's strict quota was the longest, being officially adopted in 1920 up until the late 1960s.


Modern use

The ''numerus clausus'' is used in countries and universities where the number of applicants greatly exceeds the number of available places for students. This is the case in many countries of
continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...
. Students in much of Europe choose their field of specialization when they begin university study, unlike students in North America, who specialize later. Fields such as medicine, law, biology, dentistry, pharmacy, psychology and business administration are particularly popular and therefore harder to gain admittance to study.


Selected examples


Brazil

In November 2002 the Brazilian government passed Federal Law 10.558/2002, known as the "Quota Law". The law allowed for the establishment of racial quotas at public universities. In 2012 the
Supreme Federal Court The Supreme Federal Court ( pt, Supremo Tribunal Federal, , abbreviated STF) is the supreme court (court of last resort) of Brazil, serving primarily as the Constitutional Court of the country. It is the highest court of law in Brazil for con ...
of Brazil unanimously upheld the law.


Germany

The ''numerus clausus'' is used in Germany to address overcrowding at universities. There are local admission restrictions, which are set up for a particular degree program (') at the university's discretion, and nationwide admission restrictions in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and pharmacy. Not all degree programs restrict admissions. The most common admission criterion is the final grade of the university entrance qualification, that is the high school completion certificate formally allowing the applicant to study at a German university. Typically, this is the ''
Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen ye ...
''. The final grade takes into account the grades of the final exams as well as the course grades. In colloquial usage, ''numerus clausus'' may also refer to the lowest admitted grade in this process. Other criteria, e.g. interviews, are increasingly common as well.


Finland

The Finnish system of implementing the ''numerus clausus'' provides a comparison to the German model. In Germany, the main weight of the student selection lies on the ''Abitur'' grades (i.e. high school diploma). In Finland, which has a similar nationwide final exam, the
matriculation examination A matriculation examination or matriculation exam is a university entrance examination, which is typically held towards the end of secondary school. After passing the examination, a student receives a school leaving certificate recognising academi ...
(Finnish ''ylioppilastutkinto''), the majority of student selections are based on entrance exams. Most degree programs consist of a single major subject and have their own entrance procedures. Nearly all programs have a quota in which the score is calculated solely on the basis of the entrance exam. The written exams usually consist of open-ended questions requiring the applicant to write an essay or solve problems. Multiple choice tests are uncommon. In fields where the competition for study places is less fierce. This is especially the case with the
engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...
and
natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
programs. It is relatively easy to be accepted in these fields—about one-third of the study places in technology are awarded on the basis of the matriculation exam. The rest of the students are admitted on the basis of an entrance exam. After receiving a study place, the student must accept it in writing on the pain of forfeiting the place. In case the students receive more than one study place, they must select one. During the year, one person may accept only a single study place in an institution of higher education. The system is enforced through a national database on student admissions. In the Finnish system, the ''numerus clausus'' is the most important factor limiting student numbers. After gaining entrance, traditionally a student cannot be expelled, pays no
tuition Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in Commonwealth English, are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services. Besides public spending (by governments and other public bo ...
, and enjoys a state student benefit. The new legislation, introduced in the summer of 2005, limits the study period to seven years, but it is anticipated that it will be relatively easy to receive permission for a longer study time. No changes to the financial position of the student are currently being considered (as of the summer of 2005).


France

In France, admission to the ''
grandes écoles Grandes may refer to: *Agustín Muñoz Grandes Agustín Muñoz Grandes (27 January 1896 – 11 July 1970) was a Spanish general, and politician, vice-president of the Spanish Government and minister with Francisco Franco several times; also know ...
'' is obtained by competitive exams with a fixed, limited number of positions each year. Also, at the end of the first year of medical studies in universities, until 2020, there was a competitive exam with a ''numerus clausus'' for determining which students are allowed to proceed to the second year; in later years of medical studies there is a competitive exam (''concours de l'internat'') for choosing medical specialties.


India

India doesn't allow foreign students to study at all universities and schools. Only a few universities allow foreign students under direct admission or NRI (non resident Indian) or Management quota category. India has complex categories of student admissions and there are no laws that were explicitly written for foreign students. Less than 0.5% of educational institutions in India admit foreign students.


Ireland

''Numerus clausus'' is also used in Ireland.
University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...
uses the system in its admission for Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.


Switzerland

The introduction of the ''numerus clausus'' in Switzerland has limited access to medical studies at the universities. At all universities of the German-speaking part of Switzerland, the students need to have a high score on an aptitude test that comprises logical and spatial thinking and text understanding skills. The universities in the western, French-speaking part of Switzerland did not decide to introduce a ''numerus clausus''. Instead, these universities provide unrestricted access to the first-year curriculum in medicine; and the best first-year students are allowed to further their medical studies at the same or at another university. In other popular faculties like psychology or journalism, there are also aptitude tests—but they concern only a single university.


United States

Starting in the 1980s, and ongoing , there have been allegations of an
Asian quota An Asian quota is a racial quota limiting the number of people of Asian descent in an establishment, a special case of '' numerus clausus''. It usually refers to alleged educational quotas in United States higher education admissions, specific ...
in college admissions, analogous to the earlier
Jewish quota A Jewish quota was a discriminatory racial quota designed to limit or deny access for Jews to various institutions. Such quotas were widespread in the 19th and 20th centuries in developed countries and frequently present in higher education, o ...
.


As related to matters other than education

''Numerus clausus'' is also a rule that regulates the number of practitioners of a public service in many areas. In the U.S., for instance, it can limit the number of liquor stores to be found in a given geographic area. In France, it limits the distribution of public notaries geographically and, in effect, limits competition for their services (since their fees are fixed by the state). Notaries handle, for instance, title transactions, which is not allowed to lawyers in France. Similar limitations apply to
pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...
s, and to licensed premises for the consumption of strong alcoholic beverages. In India the system of caste quotas for job placement is enforced, and vigorously defended by strikes and riots. Often, the rule is administered by the corporation or professional body to which the public servant must adhere, but it is also employed by state entities that have the responsibility for assuring the uniformity of a public service across a national geography.


Law

''Numerus clausus'' is also used in law,
property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...
law in particular, as the principle that the system of estates allows only a limited number of property rights available in a legal system. The ''numerus clausus'' principle has its roots in
Roman law Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...
. In German law the ''numerus clausus'' principle has a constitutional foundation and limits property rights in their number (Typenzwang) and content (Typenfixierung). Other European states show equal doctrines.B. Akkermans, "The Principle of ''Numerus Clausus'' in European Property Law" (Antwerpen/Oxford/Portland: Intersentia, 2008) ;
T.H.D. Struycken, "De ''Numerus Clausus'' in het Goederenrecht" (Deventer: Kluwer, 2007) ;
L David
Ist der ''Numerus clausus'' der Immaterialgüterrechte noch zeitgemäss?
Aktuelle Juristische Praxis (AJP), 1995


See also

* Affirmative action * Ghetto benches


Notes


References

;Books * J Karabel, ''The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton'' (Houghton Mifflin, 2005) * MG Synnot, 'Anti-Semitism and American Universities: Did Quotas Follow the Jews?', in Jeffrey S. Gurock (ed), ''Anti-Semitism in America'' (Routledge 1998) vol. VI, part 2 ;Articles * T Merrill and H Smith, ‘Optimal Standardization in the Law of Property: The Numerus Clausus Principle’ (2000) 110 Yale Law Journal 1 * H Hansmann and R Kraakman, ‘Property, Contract and Verification: The Numerus Clausus Problem and the Divisibility of Rights’ (2002) 31 Journal of Legal Studies 373 {{DEFAULTSORT:Numerus Clausus Education issues Education policy History of education Latin words and phrases Religious discrimination University and college admissions