Hierarchy Structure and Mobility of Professors among Universities in German-speaking World : Case of Medicine since the late 18th Century

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mobility of university professors among institutions and the prestige structure of university system in German-speaking world from the late 18th century to present. A 35x35 input-output matrix was made from the data on medical professors listed by H. Eulner. Using this data matrix, a mobility and prestige structure was examined historically. Division of the period is as follows; the first period ( -1809) the second period (1810-1871) the third period (1872-1918) the fourth period (1919-1948) the fifth period (1949-1969) The prestige index of each university is defined as follows; P. I. = the number of full-professors who moved in / the number of full-professors who moved out+1 The most prestigeous universities were Halle in the first period, Berlin, Gottingen and Wien in the second period, Berlin, Munchen and Wien in the third period. During these periods, less prestigeous universities were the small universities which were located in small cities or peripheral regions, such as Rostock, Konigsberg, Greifswald, Giessen, Erlangen, Innsbruck and Swiss universities. In the fourth period, the prestige of universities in Deutsche Demokratik Republik after World War II, including Berlin, decreased and that of Swiss universities increased. The most prestigeous universities were Munchen, Berlin, and Wien. In the fifth period, the prestige structure was almost the same as in the fourth period in each country. Medical professors were moving across wide regions in German-speaking world in the period extending from the late 18th century to befor the Second World War. But the range of mobility was mainly divided into two groups. In the south-east of the German-speaking world, there was a closed mobility group which was composed of Wien, Graz, Prag and Innsbruck (including Swiss universities until the late 19th century). In this group, many-professors were moving from Innsbruck, which was the starting point of full-professors' mobility, via Graz or Prag to Wien. The hierarchy structure was distinct and rigid. These characteristics were almost unchangeable. Unlike in the past, mobility among institutions has diminished since World War II. In Germany and Switzerland, mobility and prestige structure were more complicated and changeable than in Austria. Prussia's intercountry wars and establishment of large-city universities gave impact to the mobility pattern and prestige structure. Berlin University, which was founded in 1810, received high prestige from the beginning, and changed the mobility pattern so that it was the final destination of the mobility patterns of professors. From Berlin few professors moved to other universities. Munchen, Frankfurt, Hamburg are the same case to some degree. Beside these universities, Heidelberg, Freiburg, Leipzig, Göttingen, Bonn have been continuously high status. But small universities such as Greifswald, Königsberg, Rostock, which were located in Baltic coast, and the Swiss universities, Erlangen Giessen and Marburg were the starting point of professors' mobility during the nineteenth century. From the chairs of these universities the mobility of full-professors started toward more prestigeous universities. In Germany, mobility patterns show a little regional bias, but professors in prestigeous universities were appointed from over all regions. Clear gaps cannot be found between Prussian and South-west German universities, including Swiss universities until before the second World War. Many Swiss universities did not finish the early stages of mobility until after World War I, but later, professors remained in Swiss universities because of the Nazi's exclusive academic policy. For several years after the founding of the German Democratic Republic in 1948, there was a large flow of professors to German Federal Republic. Except for this case, mobility across countries has diminished but the prestige structure of universities in each country is almost the same