The future of university from different viewpoints: a commentary to Szulevicz et al. (2021)

This commentary is connecting the dots between the publication of Szulevicz et al., (2021) about the discrepancy of students' master theses and mainstream research and the upcoming book about the future of universities edited by Geberth & Woller (2023). University is changing fast, which can be prominently seen by comparing published research and the work of students. Danish students are seen as fulfilling Humboldt's ideal choosing niche topics for their theses. Meanwhile Austrian students demand more practical skills from their studies and German lecturers ask themselves, how much practice orientation might be too much. Neoliberalism seems to be at the bottom of the drastic changes which universities are going through. The authors criticize the influence of external funding on research in general.