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The department of a university will become its own university from 1 January 2013. The news sounds boring, but it is a minor sensation. Since 1914, only one state university has been founded in Hesse: in 1971 in Kassel. Now the Geisenheim department of the Wiesbaden Rhine-Main University of Applied Sciences will become the Geisenheim University of Applied Sciences. In English, the name is just as simple: Geisenheim University. What at first glance looks like a dusty administrative act is, however, the result of a fierce political dispute between the two banks of the Rhine. Although it is about one of the most important and renowned European training centres for viticulture, wine plays no part in it.

In the winter semester of 2009/2010, Rhineland-Palatinate set up its own viticulture course with the universities of applied sciences in Ludwigshafen, Bingen and Kaiserslautern as teaching partners. However, since 1987, the largest wine-growing federal state had also participated in the co-financing of the Geisenheim Research Institute, founded in 1872, with 1.3 million euros. The state of Hesse paid a little more than ten million euros for the operation of the internationally highly renowned viticultural institution with about 320 employees, including 33 professors, about 30 other scientists and 1,100 students. In recent years, about half of them came from the wine-growing regions of Rheinhessen or the Palatinate. In other words, from Rhineland-Palatinate.

At the end of 2007, Rhineland-Palatinate's Minister of Viticulture Hendrik Hering (SPD) said in an interview with the Allgemeine Zeitung (AZ) in Mainz: "We will offer a dual course of studies that does not yet exist in this form and therefore does not compete with Geisenheim". Clemens Klockner, President of the then Wiesbaden University of Applied Sciences - it only got its current name in 2009 - reacted to this in a richly annoyed manner. He described the idea as a "prestige object born of Rhineland-Palatinate patriotism". Political observers believe this argument to be correct. Already during the term of office of the former Minister of Viticulture Günter Eymael (FDP), who clearly stood by his own place of study Geisenheim, the topic had been discussed again and again in high-ranking committees of the ministry, says one who knows the sensitivities well. At that time, it was not about wine and a good degree programme. It was about profiling, and it turned into a tough dispute between a black and a red state government.

Eva Kühne-Hörmann% Hessian Minister for Science and the Arts (Source: HMWK)

For almost two years, the preparations for the new viticulture programme in Neustadt/Weinstraße were observed calmly but suspiciously by many of those involved and the opposition in the state parliament. Many reacted with a shrug of the shoulders to little interest, only in the viticulture associations and institutions was there debate. The big surprise followed in June 2010: the state of Rhineland-Palatinate cancelled the state contract for co-financing Geisenheim at short notice at the end of the year. Hering cut 600,000 euros from the budget and wanted to renegotiate the use of the remaining money with Hessian Science Minister Eva Kühne-Hörmann (CDU). One of his demands was that the Rhineland-Palatinate programme should be closely linked to Geisenheim. Hering also wanted research to be "oriented towards projects and direct applications". He immediately brought the then new Steillagenzentrum in Bernkastel-Kues on the Mosel into the debate. The answer followed immediately: Kühne-Hörmann assessed the termination of the State Treaty as an "unfriendly act" - one could also have said as a declaration of war. There was also a row behind the scenes. Hering appeased: "We want to continue the dialogue." But the issue was no longer renegotiated between the federal states.

Instead, Hesse looked for new ways to preserve and reposition Geisenheim. "There were initially six to eight options, of which two remained: Either integrating research and teaching into the Rhine-Main University of Applied Sciences or founding a university of its own," recalls Prof. Otmar Löhnertz, the dean of the Geisenheim faculty. The faculty and the ministry decided on the path to independence as the Geisenheim University of Applied Sciences. The Science Council, Germany's most important science policy body, also endorsed the foundation. Although its more than 80-page report lists many concerns, demands and counter-arguments, for the 32 experts the perspective of merging the internationally renowned research institute with teaching prevailed. After all, a Geisenheim degree is the gold standard in viticulture for young winemakers.

Prof. Otmar Löhnertz% Dean of the Geisenheim Faculty (Source: Geisenheim Campus)

The department and the research institute had to be prepared for independence in just a few months during the current semester. "During the current semester, it was a matter of the validity of student ID cards and local transport tickets, new servers, changed administrative structures, employment contracts, the new logo, certificates and hundreds of other details," Löhnertz lists. But the last dean of the Geisenheim faculty takes the heavy workload calmly in addition to the day-to-day operations with seminar meetings, working groups, planning committees, strategy commissions and more: "It's a unique opportunity that we will take advantage of. Now is the time!" The new Geisenheim University of Applied Sciences is considered the first German "new-type university" as defined by the German Science Council. It is characterised by a specialised structure and an offer that is no longer classically university or university of applied sciences, but lies in between due to its subject-relatedness. "We now have to work on two levels. On the one hand, we have to manage the conversion of teaching without restricting students and, in parallel, work out the visions, focal points and strategies for our future," says Löhnertz. An important component in realigning Geisenheim is the right to award doctorates. Until now, Geisenheim students were awarded their doctorate by a partner university, such as the Justus Liebig University in Gießen. Now Löhnertz and his professors are working on their own doctoral regulations, which will initially continue to be applied with partners. The Science Council writes in its report that it will take at least five years until Geisenheim will be its own master of the process. But Löhnertz sees things differently: "We will now have our own right to award doctorates. How and in what time frames we deal with it is our responsibility." He emphasises that this right clearly upgrades the university in competition. Professors with highly interesting qualifications would possibly be more easily convinced to work in Geisenheim. Löhnertz is planning four more professorships in the coming years.

The administration building of the Geisenheim Research Institute and the Geisenheim Department (Source: Wikipedia / M. Deresch)

In addition, as a university in its own right, international cooperation will be expanded and new approaches will be taken to project funding. "As a new type of university, we now have the opportunity to receive federal research funding. This path was previously blocked to us. But this is new territory for us," says Löhnertz. He says it is important to him not to teach in the future university textbook knowledge that can also be read on the internet. Viticulture and related disciplines need scientifically recognised knowledge, "which we also have to put on our wellies to gain". The practical relevance of the Bachelor's education and the future Master's programmes should above all "teach students to think". Otmar Löhnertz emphasises: "We want to offer an academic education worthy of its name and at the same time remain down-to-earth." Financing, third-party funding, subsidies, examination regulations, academic foci - all this is still under discussion. The political debate between Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate no longer plays a role. "Should the topic come back on the agenda, we will communicate our positions aggressively," explains Löhnertz. But no one is counting on that. Already in December 2011 - only one year after the big row between the ministries - Geisenheim concluded a cooperation agreement with the Viticulture Technician School in Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate, through which young winegrowers can start studying for a bachelor's degree in viticulture and oenology after their training. This represents "an interesting perspective for their professional career," according to a press release from the Geisenheim campus. The cooperation is "currently unique and exemplary for a flexible design within the German education system". It sounds as if there has never been a dispute, and as if dual education does not exist in Neustadt. On 15 January, Hessian Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) comes to the opening ceremony of Geisenheim University. He would not be visiting if it were not for the dismissal, the dispute and the argument. The Ministry of Viticulture in Rhineland-Palatinate reports extensively on the success of its course. Somehow, everyone is now a winner. That's how politics works. Also when it comes to wine.

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