Brains...brains...Germany want BRAINS!

German universities are pretty, uh, mediocre.  They get the job done, and clever people can get a great education, but they're not generating world-changing ideas, or fascinating press coverage.  For complex historical reasons (including a rather pronounced sense of egalitarianism), none of them has been able to develop into a world-class institution, where the best students and professors mingle in a hothouse environment. 

Now there's a plan to create "top universities" that will attract the best students and professors. 
Because this is Germany, it's all being run by the Federal Education Ministry as a coordinated, highly-regulated program.  The program even has a motto: "Brain Up!  Deutschland sucht seine Spitzen-Unis"  ("Brain Up!  Germany's looking for its top universities").  Yes, "Brain Up !" is in English. 

One interesting aspect of the policy is -- whoa, hold on a second: "Brain Up !"?!  Trust me when I say that English knows no expression "Brain Up!" (The German equivalent must be something like Aufgehirnt!).  The sarcastic remarks practically write themselves.  Nor is the second part of the motto particularly, er, elite.  It seems to imply that (1) German already has a top university; but (2) lost it somewhere.  "Excuse me very much, please.  I am Germany, and I seem to have lost my exclusive elite university.  I think I last saw it around Rome, but I was also showing it to a few people near Bristol.  Listen for many people using words like Verdinglichung, or young people protesting against tuition fees.  If you find it, very big reward!  Big medal for chest, we call it Bundesverdienstkreuz!" 

Comments

[Margaret]

I had an entry on this in February 2004, after which I unfortunately learned that the term had been used in native English (in the Guardian). However, using it once and making it a slogan are a bit different.

http://www.margaret-marks.com/Transblawg/archives/000675.html

[Jan]

There is nothing more to say about that stuff...thank you for that article!

[Roland Scheel]

Very pleasant.
German politicians really think this way: How much do I have to pay to come by a genius, how many do I need. Thus I can calculate the level of the "denkerpfennig" I should introduce to end the scarcity of innovation.

[Don Loc]

"Aufgehirnt" Hahaha, classic!

Seems like those who invented that slogan are "enthirnt" (un-brained)

[Ligia]

Maybe the germans want to "brain up!" the Universities because they already have "brained" Elementary and High Schools "down", acoording to PISA Study, some years ago ;-)

[Cobalt Frog]

"Brain Up! Deutschland sucht seine Spitzen-Unis" [...] seems to imply that (1) German already has a top university; but (2) lost it somewhere.

Not really. It implies that Germany has A SET OF universities that are its top insitutions (much like Les Hautes Ecoles or the IV League). And indeed those universities exist. Their challenge, in Germany, is that they are (by and large) uninterested in cultivating a brand equity - either implicitly, as practiced with intellectual leadership (and hirarchial snobness) by the French, or explicitly as the American model dicates.

To wit: the average German university student or alumnus displays roughly comparable pride in their alma mata as in their local library: nearly none.

[Stephan]

Tonight we encounter the strange phenomenon of deja vu ;-) (please delete this stupid comment after deleting your double post)