Seeking Quality, German Universities Scrap Equality, The New York Times, October 20, 2006
Yet last week, when a German government committee anointed three institutions as elite universities — a sort of Teutonic Ivy League — Karlsruhe made the cut while Heidelberg did not. The other winners were the University of Munich and the Technical University, also in Munich.
The much anticipated decision, which entitles the schools to more than $100 million each over the next five years, sent spirits soaring at Karlsruhe and swooning at Heidelberg. It also set off a national discussion about the nature of excellence, the necessity of focusing on science and technology and the wisdom of culling the great from the merely good.
"People used to say elite was a dirty word,"....
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