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PARIS, France (AP) -- German universities are trying to charge tuition. Paris schools are considering selection instead of open admission. Dutch colleges are pushing students to finish faster. Greece wants to lift a ban on private universities.
Change is rattling Europe's temples of learning.
Resistance remains fierce, driven by fears of the "Americanization" -- or commercialization -- of higher education.
But economic realities are overpowering those who maintain that universities should impart universal knowledge, not pave the way to a job. Too many European graduates are getting welfare checks instead of paychecks.
Europe's universities don't provide the skills and research needed to help the continent prosper and compete with rapidly growing economies in Asia and elsewhere, according to international rankings, school presidents, students and European Union officials.
Germany, France and Italy spend just 1.1 percent of gross domestic product on higher education, nearly all of that from state funds, says the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The U.S. spends 2.6 percent -- with private endowments funding the majority.
Still, that may not be enough. The OECD says China and India are adapting faster than the United States and the EU and are producing more high-skilled workers for 21st century needs.
Lecture halls at Europe's oldest university, the University of Bologna in Italy, are crumbling. French university libraries are outdated, poorly accessible and increasingly ignored.
Students receive little guidance. European college dropout rates average 40 percent. One survey found that more than a third of adults in the EU cannot perform basic computer tasks such as using a mouse to access an Internet site or working with a word-processing program.
"Many go to university because they think it's prestigious. But most of us know that we may still be working at the sandwich shop" after graduation, Fatima Bouziane, a sociology student at the University of Saint-Denis, said as she headed to a part-time cafe job in a bleak neighborhood north of Paris.
The head of France's main employers union, Laurence Parisot, says French universities are "the shame of our nation."
Their dire state is becoming a campaign issue in next spring's election. Presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a Socialist, says the university system should be "dynamited." On the right, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is calling for a 50 percent increase in funding for higher education over five years.
"It's a miracle that France is still the world's fifth largest (economic) power, closely tailed by China, considering its weak investment in higher education. Can this continue?" the president of the Sorbonne, Jean-Robert Pitte, wrote in a book this year called "Youth -- They're Lying to You!"
The American sweep of this year's science and economics Nobel prizes is likely to sharpen the debate.
Most European universities are public, and most charge no tuition, just small fees. Parisian universities, for example, charge $125 to $250 a year, and that is covered for low-income students with one-time student stipends.
Critics contend the system leaves education short of funds.
But opponents of market-oriented reforms being proposed across Europe worry that students will become commodities for profit-centered universities and fear that disciplines with limited market value will die out.
French researchers staged nationwide protests against perceived interference in educational affairs by businesses interests and the government. In Greece, government proposals for creation of private universities provoked student protests. In Germany, protesters blocked highways over several German state governments' plans to introduce university tuition fees.
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Change is rattling Europe's temples of learning.
Resistance remains fierce, driven by fears of the "Americanization" -- or commercialization -- of higher education.
But economic realities are overpowering those who maintain that universities should impart universal knowledge, not pave the way to a job. Too many European graduates are getting welfare checks instead of paychecks.
Europe's universities don't provide the skills and research needed to help the continent prosper and compete with rapidly growing economies in Asia and elsewhere, according to international rankings, school presidents, students and European Union officials.
Germany, France and Italy spend just 1.1 percent of gross domestic product on higher education, nearly all of that from state funds, says the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The U.S. spends 2.6 percent -- with private endowments funding the majority.
Still, that may not be enough. The OECD says China and India are adapting faster than the United States and the EU and are producing more high-skilled workers for 21st century needs.
Lecture halls at Europe's oldest university, the University of Bologna in Italy, are crumbling. French university libraries are outdated, poorly accessible and increasingly ignored.
Students receive little guidance. European college dropout rates average 40 percent. One survey found that more than a third of adults in the EU cannot perform basic computer tasks such as using a mouse to access an Internet site or working with a word-processing program.
"Many go to university because they think it's prestigious. But most of us know that we may still be working at the sandwich shop" after graduation, Fatima Bouziane, a sociology student at the University of Saint-Denis, said as she headed to a part-time cafe job in a bleak neighborhood north of Paris.
The head of France's main employers union, Laurence Parisot, says French universities are "the shame of our nation."
Their dire state is becoming a campaign issue in next spring's election. Presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a Socialist, says the university system should be "dynamited." On the right, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is calling for a 50 percent increase in funding for higher education over five years.
"It's a miracle that France is still the world's fifth largest (economic) power, closely tailed by China, considering its weak investment in higher education. Can this continue?" the president of the Sorbonne, Jean-Robert Pitte, wrote in a book this year called "Youth -- They're Lying to You!"
The American sweep of this year's science and economics Nobel prizes is likely to sharpen the debate.
Most European universities are public, and most charge no tuition, just small fees. Parisian universities, for example, charge $125 to $250 a year, and that is covered for low-income students with one-time student stipends.
Critics contend the system leaves education short of funds.
But opponents of market-oriented reforms being proposed across Europe worry that students will become commodities for profit-centered universities and fear that disciplines with limited market value will die out.
French researchers staged nationwide protests against perceived interference in educational affairs by businesses interests and the government. In Greece, government proposals for creation of private universities provoked student protests. In Germany, protesters blocked highways over several German state governments' plans to introduce university tuition fees.
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