Students Attending Universities and Other Institutions of Higher Learning in Prussia (1869-1912) During the Bismarckian period the number of students attending Prussian universities and other institutes of higher learning shot upward, from about 18,000 in 1869 to over 40,000 in the mid-1890s – far exceeding the rate of growth among the adult male population (women were not permitted to attend university). More and more university students came from lower-middle-class backgrounds. The proportion of students from families of the educated middle classes [Bildungsbürgertum] declined correspondingly.
print version     return to document list previous document      next document
page 1 of 1 Students Attending Universities and Other Institutions of Higher Learning in Prussia, Divided According to Type At the end of the year Students (regular students, auditors)* Students (regular students, auditors)* 22 Univer- sities 11 Institutes of technology 5 and, respect- ively, 4** forest acad- emies 3 Mining acad- emies 5 and, respect- ively, 4*** veterinary univer- sities 4 Agricult- ural univer- sities together per 10,000 of the male population 1869 13,997 2,928 261 144 267 357 17,954 8.83 1872 15,359 4,163 317 168 271 298 20,576 10.03 1875 16,357 5,449 269 264 284 269 22,892 11.08 1880 21,432 3,377 394 262 436 353 26,254 11.73 1885 26,928 2,549 394 344 735 468 31,418 13.85 1888 28,551 2,887 386 343 962 483 33,612 14.39 1891 27,398 4,209 255 389 1,047 694 33,992 13.87 1896 29,476 7,747 330 523 1,140 1,070 40,286 15.70 1899 32,834 10,412 278 763 1,343 890 46,520 16.78 1902 35,857 13,151 251 879 1,415 985 52,538 18.50 1905 41,235 12,237 336 902 1,186 1,479 57,375 19.20 1908 47,253 11,315 342 830 1,306 1,553 62,599 20.08 1909 50,612 11,365 323 826 1,233 1,607 65,966 20.87 1910 52,766 11,502 291 806 1,220 1,617 68,202 21.29 1911 54,999 11,378 338 791 1,328 1,446 70,280 21.65 1912 56,483 11,349 327 805 1,269 1,477 71,710 21.77 * Male and female students; the student numbers were probably expressed as a percentage of the male population because the number of female students was basically negligible – for instance, during the winter semester of 1911/12 only 1,896 women were enrolled in Prussian universities as opposed to 26,550 men. (Statistisches Jahrbuch für den Preußischen Staat [Statistical Yearbook for the Prussian State] 1915, p. 265 and 267). ** From 1910 onward, this does not include the Forest Academy in Aschaffenburg. *** From 1912 onward, this does not include the Veterinary University in Stuttgart. Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch für den Preußischen Staat [Statistical Yearbook for the Prussian State] (1915): p. 261. Original German data reprinted in Gerd Hohorst, Jürgen Kocka, and Gerhard A. Ritter, Sozialgeschichtliches Arbeitsbuch II [Social History Workbook], 2nd ed. Munich: Beck, 1978, pp. 161-62.
first page	< previous   |   next page >	last page