Foundations in Germany: Higher Education

This article investigates the roles and positions of higher education foundations in Germany. First, it finds that those roles and positions differ from other activity fields in that sense that the higher education system faces specific challenges, such as the disastrous financial situation and the cooperation between federal government and the states. The field-specific challenges affect higher education foundations as well. Second, the article identifies that the mode of operation and size of the foundations also affect the roles and positions. The essential contribution of large foundations, which often have a mixed approach to their work, lies in their work as institution builders, capacity builders, and partially also as advocates and innovators. In contrast, the smaller, often grant-making higher education foundations are usually more active as smaller capacity creators in the fields of welfare and preservation.