Summary
The rise of German higher education in the 19th century is often related to Humboldt’s concept of the university, and so may be its gradual decline in the 20th century: this concept, of which most don’t know more than the slogan ›Einheit der Forschenden und Lehrenden‹ (›unity of teachers and students‹) it is felt to be outdated. In a public speech in Tübingen, Brigitte Schlieben-Lange showed that this concept is much more complex: it is in the state’s own interest to provide sanctuaries in which the quest for the truth in free, never-ending interaction is possible. Humboldt’s idea directly follows from his notion of language as a continuous effort rather than as something finished. There is no reason to assume that such a concept is ever outdated.