A Study On Internationalization Of Higher Education In Germany

Today the internationalization of higher education has become one of basic trends of higher education reforms. All the countries in the world attach great importance to the role of internationalization of higher education in improving the quality of higher education, enhancing overall national strength and international competitiveness, and consider it as the important strategy aiming at the achievement of strong country through higher education.Germany is the cradle of modern university. With a long history, German higher education is well known in the world. With the rapid development of the globalization of economic, fast increase of the service and trade of higher education, deep promotion of European Integration, German traditional idea of university not meeting the needs of modern education, Germany has begun to carry out an all-round reform of higher education, which promotes its internationalization. The history of the internation-alization of German higher education can be divided into four periods coming as:the period for conceiving and sprouting of the internationalization of German higher education (—the early 1980s); the period for adjustment and exploration of the internationalization of German higher education (from 1980s to mid-1990s); the period for the rapid growth of the internationalization of German higher education(from mid-1990s to 2004); the period for steady progress and deep development of the internationalization of German higher education(since 2004). In short, the internationalization of German higher education develops through the process from individual, nonsystematic and unorganized process to systematic, organized process, and from international activities to the planned, procedural, intentional strategy of sustainable internationalization of higher education, and gradually it has become the important strategy for the development of national higher education.The internationalization of higher education is driven by multiple factors. The influence of factors varies in the different periods and is related with the actors of the internationalization of higher education. In the economic globalization, Germany actively promotes the rapid development of the internationalization of higher education, which is mainly driven by political, economic, cultural and academic factors etc. Because of German history and cultural tradition, compared with other developed countries, political and academic factors in Germany have more remarkable influence on it than economic, cultural factors have.In the internationalization process of higher education, German government has realized the importance of the internationalization of higher education for the enhancement of German international competitiveness and reshaping international image. Therefore, Germany regards the internationalization of higher education as the important strategy for the development and reform of German higher education and has adopted a series of strategies and concrete measures, for example, actively participating in the international educational programs launched by EU in order to achieve the national interests through regional cooperation; fully exerting the role of the Third Department (DAAD) to promote the internationalization of higher education; improving the quality of higher education and scientific research level through the implement of "Excellent Initiative" program; establishing quality insurance system of higher education focused on evaluation and accreditation and so on. They have improved the internationalization of German higher education in an all-round way, resulting its various forms, e.g. the international exchange among the students and faculties; internationalization of degree system; mutual recognition for credits; international curriculum; international language and transnational higher education etc. which have promoted the rapid development of the internationalization of German higher education.Though in the history of German higher education, the path of the internationalization of higher education is not so smooth and easy, Germany has been courageously striving for the exploration of the internationalization of higher education and it has obtained a great achievement and has gained rich experience, for example, internationally orientating bold in the innovation in thoughts and system innovation; strong support by government to establish, modify related policies; promoting the internationalization of higher education by the Third Department; the balance development between import and export of higher education; establishment of quality assurance system of higher education; attaching great importance to the research on the internationalization of higher education. In the exploration of the internationalization, Germany has developed its own way to the internationalization of higher education.Since the reform and open-up policy launched in 1980s, China has been promoting the internationalization of higher education. In the 21th century, the internationalization of higher education in China has developed very fast and has become the important strategy of national development. In the Outline of the National Program for Long-and Medium-Term Educational Development (2010-2020), it points out that our higher education should strive to achieve the modern education of world level, which shows our government’s resolution to promote the internationalization of higher education. Therefore, learning from German experiences, we should take a series of reform measures on the basis of Chinese realities in. the following aspect: internationally orientating bold in the innovation in thoughts and system innovation; perfecting the related policies and law system led by the government; fully exerting the Third Department to promote the internationalization of higher education; persisting in the international strategy to promote the shift of internationalization of higher education from education import to the dynamic balance in educational import and export; rapidly building up the world-class universities in order to improve their competitiveness; establishing the reasonable and scientific quality assurance system of higher education; strengthening the systematic researches on the internationalization of higher education, which promote the comprehensive and profound internationalization of our higher education and realize the strategic goal for the strong country through higher educantion.