The founding of the University of Bayreuth and today's world

When the University of Bayreuth began teaching in 1975, a huge wave of university expansion had swept across the country. Within just 15 years, the number of universities in the Federal Republic had doubled. At the beginning of the 1960s, there were only 16 universities and 9 technical colleges. At that time, a total of just 350,000 people were studying at all universities – today, there are more than 400,000 students in Bavaria alone.  

Die Hochschulbildung musste Anfang der 1960er Jahre also dringend ausgebaut werden, schon die Zuwanderung von 13 Millionen „Heimatvertriebenen“ und DDR-Flüchtlingen verlangte dies, aber auch die starken Geburtenjahrgänge seit Mitte der 1950er Jahre. Nicht einmal genügend Lehrerinnen und Lehrer würde das Land andernfalls ausbilden können, so mahnte der Freiburger Bildungspolitiker Georg Picht und warnte vor einer „deutschen Bildungskatastrophe“.² Hierzu mussten zunächst einige Hindernisse beseitigt werden. Erst durch das „Hochschulbauförderungsgesetz“ vom Sommer 1969 war beispielsweise dem Bund die Beteiligung an der Finanzierung des Hochschulbaus erlaubt. Willy Brandt, im Oktober 1969 zum Bundeskanzler gewählt, erhob den Hochschulausbau schließlich zu einem Schwerpunkt seiner Amtszeit – in der berühmten „Wir wollen mehr Demokratie wagen“-Rede. Kurz zuvor hatte der Bayreuther Oberbürgermeister Hans Walter Wild seinem Parteifreund Brandt bei einem Wahlkampfauftritt in Bayreuth noch die Idee einer Universitätsgründung mit auf den Weg gegeben.

Higher education urgently needed to be expanded in the early 1960s, not only because of the influx of 13 million "displaced persons" and refugees from the GDR, but also because of the high birth rates since the mid-1950s. Otherwise, the country would not even be able to train enough teachers, warned Freiburg education politician Georg Picht, who warned of a "German education catastrophe".² To this end, a number of obstacles had to be removed first. It was only with the "Higher Education Construction Promotion Act" of summer 1969, for example, that the Federal Government was allowed to participate in the financing of university construction. Willy Brandt, elected Chancellor in October 1969, finally made the expansion of higher education a priority of his term in office – in his famous "We want to dare more democracy" speech. Shortly before, the Mayor of Bayreuth, Hans Walter Wild, had suggested the idea of founding a university to his party colleague Brandt during an election campaign appearance in Bayreuth.

The wave of university foundations that followed in the Federal Republic is impressive, not least against the backdrop of today's difficulties with public construction projects: between 1965 and 1982, within just 17 years, a total of 19 new universities were built. Numerous universities of applied sciences were added, and at the same time, existing universities were expanded and modernised. The number of students in the old Federal Republic of Germany increased fivefold. At the time of reunification, there were 1.5 million students in West Germany alone. Today, there are almost twice as many students in Germany, more than 400 higher education institutions (including around 100 universities), where approximately 50,000 professors work. Many of us would not have enjoyed a university education or been able to work as scientists if it had not been for this expansion, of which Bayreuth was a part.  

I would like to pause for a moment to consider the historical context in which the University of Bayreuth was founded. These were by no means rosy times: the Club of Rome's report on the "Limits to Growth" had been published in 1972, highlighting the problem of overpopulation and the associated excessive consumption of resources by humankind. In the same year, the Munich Olympics were marred by a terrorist attack. The post-war order of the global financial system collapsed in early 1973, and in October of that year, the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Egypt triggered the first oil price crisis. Economic growth stalled in industrialised countries. After years of full employment, unemployment in the Federal Republic of Germany rose sharply to 5%, and the Federal Government imposed a spending programme that was enormous by the standards of the time, amounting to more than DM 50 billion or 5.2% of the GDP at the time.³ Historians now describe the 1970s as an important turning point, when post-war prosperity – the "trente glorieuse", the thirty glorious years after the Second World War – came to an end and the world entered a period of crisis and tension.   

However, the founders of our university did not allow themselves to be discouraged by this! I find that extremely remarkable. If you look at the documents, you will find no whining or complaining, but rather determined and constructive development work. 

There were setbacks to contend with even back then: originally, a university with 10,000 students was planned, but due to the financial situation and the establishment of a rival university in Bamberg, this was quickly reduced to 5,000 places. The competition between the cities vying for universities was fierce. The press spoke of the "Upper Franconian city war". "Enthusiasm and blazing joy [...] no longer want to arise after six years of bitter struggle," writes Mayor Hans Walter Wild of in his memoirs about the day 50 years ago when our university was officially opened.⁴

However, the Structural Commission, which was busy developing a basic concept for the University of Bayreuth, worked constructively and smoothly behind the scenes – as I said, I find that impressive. The goal was and remained the establishment of a new university. It was about content, about the question of which topics and subjects were considered promising for science and for the city. In addition to the chairman Wolfgang Wild, Hans Dieter Wolff, who was elected founding president of our university in 1973, played a decisive role in this.   

² Winfried Müller et al., ‚Vor uns liegt ein Bildungszeitalter‘. Umbau und Expansion des bayerischen Bildungssystems 1950-1973“, in Die Erschließung des Landes 1949 Bis 1973, 1st ed, by Thomas Schlemmer and Hans Woller, Quellen und Darstellungen Zur Zeitgeschichte 52 (Sources and representations of contemporary history 52) (Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2001).

³ Fritz W. Scharpf, Sozialdemokratische Krisenpolitik in Europa (Campus-Verl., 1987), 179.

⁴ Wild, Hans Walter. Denk ich an damals... Bayreuths Weg zur Universität. Druckhaus, 1995, p. 290

However, confidence, optimism and the will to rebuild are not enough to establish a new university. The Structural Commission had something else: it had a very good plan and, above all – as we now know – a very promising one.

The Structural Commission's plan was much better. At the time, the Bavarian state government had merely formulated a general mandate to prevent the exodus of high school graduates from rural areas by founding a university.⁵ In addition, the university was to have a focus on the natural sciences from the outset. However, the details were left to the Structural Advisory Board, which held around 30 meetings over a period of just over three years to develop a basic concept that still shapes the face of our university today.   

I would like to briefly present the four main areas of focus that were defined at that time, in the order in which they were discussed by the Structural Advisory Board:   

As I said, a focus on the natural sciences had already been decided in advance. The appointment of Wolfgang Wild, professor of physics at the Technical University of Munich, was therefore not primarily because he was born in Bayreuth, but to launch the focus on the natural sciences. It was largely on his initiative that "macromolecular research" was established as the university's first focus, a branch of research at the interface between physics and chemistry that was intended to combine the methods of physics with the applications of chemistry.⁶ In 1984, a DFG Collaborative Research Centre was established based on this field of research. Further Collaborative Research Centres and graduate programmes followed, and in 2010, polymer research, which emerged from this focus, was consolidated in its own building.

A second focus was identified as "ecosystem research", also an interdisciplinary field in which chemists, biologists, geoscientists and geographers worked together. The term "ecosystem research" was intended to make a holistic view of geographical spaces the basis of research. This was very much in keeping with the spirit of the environmental movement that was emerging at the time, so that resistance had to be overcome in order to establish this concept.⁷ The first Collaborative Research Centre at the University of Bayreuth, "Laws and Strategies of Material Conversion in Ecological Systems" (at that time, even natural science Collaborative Research Centres still had German titles), emerged from this research area in 1981. Others followed, and in 1994 the Bavarian Research Institute of Experimental Geochemistry and Geophysicswas completed, which today has become a reliable guarantor of high-calibre scientific publications and worldwide recognition for our university.

I would like to describe the idea of establishing the commercial law degree programme as a third important and, above all, forward-looking focus in the Structural Commission's founding plan. Originally, no law faculty was planned for the university, and the ministerial bureaucracy – predominantly lawyers – was therefore sceptical about this idea.⁸ However, the establishment of the Faculty of Law, Business & Economics and the interdisciplinary Business Law degree programme not only created what is still by far the largest faculty at our university. It also embodies the idea of establishing interdisciplinary degree programmes, which was also pursued in the neighbouring faculty with the establishment of Germany's first degree programme in Geoecology. Further interdisciplinary degree programmes followed, from Sport, Business & Law in 1985 to the Philosophy & Economics programme established in 2000, which quickly became known throughout Germany, the Health Economics programme, and finally Environmental & Resource Technology, which combines engineering, biology, and chemistry.   

Finally, African Studies was included as a fourth focus in the basic concept of the University of Bayreuth – at that time still under the name "Afrikanologie", because the Bayreuthers wanted to distinguish themselves from the linguistic term "Afrikanistik". From the outset, Bayreuth also wanted to include other disciplines, such as geosciences, geography, and law.⁹ In 1984, African Studies also achieved the establishment of a special research area, which bore the simple title "Identity in Africa," which seems to have sparked lively discussions with the reviewers even back then. The outcome of these early endeavours is well known: Bayreuth is now arguably the most important location for African studies in Germany, with a recently extended cluster of excellence called "Africa Multiple", a new research building and, without doubt, global appeal.  

Many other teaching and research areas have been added since then – I will refrain from even attempting to list them all. I would certainly forget something or someone.   

What seems more important to me is that the Structural Commission and the founding of the university created a recipe for success with a surprisingly long "half-life". The opening quote from Wolfgang Wild points this out: the Structural Advisory Board did not base its work on a "university ideology", but rather developed four focal points for the new university in an interdisciplinary group of scientists, largely free from ministerial influence, which in turn required cooperation between different disciplines. This was possible in Bayreuth because rigid disciplinary boundaries and administrative structures did not exist, but rather the first generation of professors came together as a "pioneering generation", united by a common interest in building something new.

⁵ "Minutes of the constituent meeting of the Structural Advisory Board for the University of Bayreuth", 26 July 1971, UAB ZUV 1/999. As well as: "Letter from the Bavarian State Minister for Education and Culture" dated 8 January 1971 (No. I/13-5/165 503), which is based on the Higher Education Planning Commission of May 1970 (cited ibid.).

⁶ Wolfgang Wild: Überlegungen zur Struktur der Universität Bayreuth (Reflections on the structure of the University of Bayreuth), 29 March 1971, UAB ZUV 1/999. In this concept paper, which was written before the Structural Advisory Board was formed and was discussed at its second meeting, the term "macromolecular research" does not yet appear; instead, the term "theoretical chemistry" is used.  

⁷ Helmut Ruppert, interview with Karsten Kühnel, 17 October 2013 (part 1), page 6, University Archive, 

⁸ See the somewhat heroic interview with Walter Schmidt Glaeser dated 14 May 2014, University Archive, page: 4  

⁹ At its second meeting, the Structural Advisory Board explicitly ruled out the establishment of "African Studies", as proposed by the Science Council, on the basis of a concept by "Prof. Richter" from the University of Göttingen that has not been preserved: "Minutes of the 2nd meeting of the Structural Advisory Board for the University of Bayreuth". 5 November 1971. UAB ZUV 1/999. According to the documents, it was not until July 1975 that a concept paper entitled "Establishment of an Interdisciplinary Research Focus on African Studies" was discussed and adopted. "Draft memorandum on African Studies (for the 32nd meeting of the Structural Advisory Board)". 1 July 1975. UAB ZUV 587a.; Minutes of the 32nd meeting of the Structural Advisory Board for the University of Bayreuth in Bayreuth. 19 July 1975. UAB ZUV 1/999.

Just 15 years after the university was founded, reunification significantly changed our region of Upper Franconia and the whole of Germany. The University of Bayreuth suddenly faced major challenges: on the one hand, there was the rush of East German students to West German universities. The Nordbayerischer Kurier warned of a "flood of students from the GDR" and expected 30,000 additional first-year students. "The eastern universities must become more attractive," the newspaper said.¹⁰ In Bayreuth alone, the number of students rose from 6,500 to almost 9,000 within a few years.

In order to improve cooperation with universities in the GDR, Bayreuth's founding president Klaus Dieter Wolff took the initiative just two months after the fall of the Berlin Wall and organised a meeting between the universities of Northern Bavaria, Thuringia and Saxony at Thurnau Castle. Closer cooperation was agreed upon, including lecturer exchanges, guest stays for students and, finally, cooperation in university administration. However, this meant that Bayreuth's pioneering generation – who were well versed in the subject of establishing a new university – were in demand as development aid workers in East Germany. Wolff himself left the University of Bayreuth after 18 years. Other colleagues followed, some of them taking on the time-consuming and nerve-wracking dual role of Bayreuth professor and development aid worker.

Another major challenge that has changed German universities much more significantly in the medium term has taken place rather quietly. I am referring to the digital revolution and, in particular, the emergence of the internet.¹¹ However, science had already undergone significant changes by this point. Take the procurement of literature, for example: when the University of Bayreuth was founded, the establishment of a scientific library was still a huge issue. Without an efficient library and at least a rudimentary collection of books on site, a university was unthinkable in the 1970s. Today, researchers at the University of Bayreuth have access to every conceivable digital resource around the world, and one of the most important tasks of our library is to organise this access.  

The Internet revolution since the 1990s has been a huge help, especially for younger academic locations like Bayreuth. But it also increased academic competition. By the turn of the millennium, little remained of the tranquillity of the pioneering phase of the University of Bayreuth as a "frontier university" – as it was known at the time – when all the professors and their families could still fit into two buses and go on excursions together.   

The University of Bayreuth therefore broke new ground. The establishment of the "Faculty of Applied Sciences" emerged from this phase, with interdisciplinarity once again being used as a recipe for success. The combination of engineering science with Bayreuth's focus on polymer research gave rise to materials science, which is now also one of our flagship disciplines. And although the establishment of the seventh faculty in Kulmbach 10 years ago had a completely different history, it was again based on a scientific programme that applied Bayreuth's recipe for success: namely, the interdisciplinary combination of food chemistry with other life sciences. Two-thirds of the faculty will consist of natural sciences and one-third of law and social sciences.  

¹⁰ „Studentenflut aus der DDR, Nordbayerischer Kurier“, 14. February 1990, University Archive Bayreuth.

¹¹ Email and the internet were already "invented" in the 1960s, when the first computers were networked at Californian universities. The first email in Germany was received in 1984 by a researcher at the University of Karlsruhe, and it was not until 1989 that the publicly accessible World Wide Web was launched.

Science has changed dramatically over the last 50 years, and with it the University of Bayreuth. Around 12,000 people study at the University of Bayreuth today, and 2,700 people work there. We have not only grown in size, but also in visibility and influence. We are facing completely new challenges, unlike fifty years ago, and perhaps even unlike 10 years ago. What are these challenges? And how can our founding history and the University of Bayreuth's recipe for success possibly help us to better overcome these challenges?

I would like to conclude by naming two specific challenges.

1. With the transformation of the sciences, the everyday work of scientists has changed dramatically in recent years. Wolfgang Wild, whom I quoted at the beginning, lamented as early as 1989 that "spirited researchers" at universities had been replaced by mere "teaching functionaries" and that the creative atmosphere had given way to "colourless, , functionalism".¹² To me, this seems to be somewhat of a romanticisation of the university of the 1960s, and of course there are still "spirited" researchers in Bayreuth today, as well as plenty of colour.  

But in everyday working life, the scope for creative scientific activity is indeed becoming increasingly restricted in all subjects: on the one hand, this is a result of the increasing bureaucratisation of science administration at all levels, from business trip approvals to the authorisation of laboratory experiments or the purchase of machinery.¹³ On the other hand, the scientific production process itself has become bureaucratised: Scientists in Bayreuth and the rest of the world are now constantly busy writing reports for our journals, for funding institutions such as the DFG, for students applying for positions abroad, etc. According to a survey by the German Association of University Professors and Lecturers, university lecturers and research associates now spend half of their working time on such administrative tasks. Only half of their working hours can now be invested in research and teaching, which is what we are actually employed to do. In 1977, research and teaching still accounted for 72% of university lecturers' weekly working hours.¹⁴

I believe that the recipe for success at the University of Bayreuth described at the beginning offers a solution to this problem. The Structural Commission and the pioneering generation focused on creative results in a largely unregulated interdisciplinary exchange. It was not only a matter of setting priorities and developing a scientific "profile", but also of the process of further developing these priorities that was thereby established. Our founding fathers had confidence in the work of scientists, and this confidence was ultimately the source of creativity and innovation. If we in Bayreuth could manage to emphasise this trust more strongly again and perhaps even allow it to replace bureaucratic control, then I am convinced that in future many a "spirited researcher" (male and female) would turn their backs on even the most traditional and prestigious locations.  

2. Incidentally, this also helps with the second challenge we face today: young people's declining enthusiasm for science. We at the University of Bayreuth ( ) have wonderful students, and we continue to find enthusiastic young people in all subjects. But young people no longer come to us automatically and inevitably. This was completely different in the 1970s. At that time, social advancement for the vast majority was achieved through educational advancement. Today, however, more than half of first-year students come from families where at least one parent has a university degree.¹⁵ A university degree is no longer seen as a guarantee of social advancement. Many young people believe that this can be achieved more quickly and with less effort in other ways, for example as an "influencer".  

Even when young people do decide to pursue a university education, they often choose digital study programmes rather than traditional universities such as the University of Bayreuth, with face-to-face teaching and campus life. The fastest-growing university in Germany today is the private International University. Before the coronavirus crisis, it had just 30,000 students, but since then it has grown to 130,000 students, making it the largest university in Germany. Students live at home – which is cheap and convenient – and study on their computers or even on their mobile phones.  

So how can we get young people excited about science in such a context? This is perhaps the biggest challenge facing universities today. We must convince them that the solutions to the social crises of the present (from the climate crisis to the economic crisis) lie in science. We must show that science is about finding solutions. Far too often, science is preoccupied with itself rather than its content and subject matter. We must counter attempts to politicise or discredit the sciences. Our courses must be better than what students can find out for themselves through a quick internet search or by using artificial intelligence – every week and every day.  

In short, we must ensure that the university is a place full of curiosity, where young people can try things out, where mistakes can be made, and which is united in its desire to shape the future rather than being driven by global political crises.   

This is what the founding history of the University of Bayreuth stands for, as we celebrate it today. 

¹² Wolfgang Wild, Begreifen und Gestalten. Wissenschaft verändert unser Leben s (Busse Seewald, 1989), 42.  

¹³ Auer, Marietta et al., "Es brauch schlicht Mut" (It simply takes courage), Forschung & Lehre 25 (2025): 24–26.  

¹⁴ article dated 12 February 2020; https://www.forschung-und-lehre.de/politik/hochschullehrer-beklagen-zunehmende-buerokratie-2525

¹⁵ Based on the year 2021. BMBF: Education in Germany 2024, p. 218