This thesis studies the professoriate and the overall academic tradition at German universities in context of successive phases of change since 1933. It extends the analysis of the mandarin tradition developed by Fritz K. Ringer in his seminal work entitled The Decline of the German Mandarins. In this book Ringer argued that the German professors or mandarins wielded extraordinary socio-political and cultural influence for most of the nineteenth century. This "mandarin tradition" began to decline somewhere around 1890, following changes in Germany's society and polity that accompanied its rapid industrialisation and, in Ringer's view, finally ended with the advent of the National Socialists in 1933. However, this thesis argues that core elements of the mandarin tradition, identified by Ringer, survived the Nazi regime and some of their manifestations are, indeed, evident even in the present times. In part, this is because the tradition had deep social, cultural and institutional roots which influenced thinking about intellectual culture and university reform, including the latter's content and pace. But it is also because the context in which change in higher education spheres occurred - the political exigencies, the efficacy of implementation and the capacity to sustain reform - frequently created a set of circumstances which allowed for persistence of mentalities and codes of practice traditionally associated with the mandarin tradition.

To establish a culture of collegial exchange about teaching and learning among its academic staff, a German higher education institution is running a seemingly quite successful organisation development (OD) programme, comprising professional learning communities, conferences and other interventions. But how fit for purpose is the programme? A formative realist evaluation is conducted to establish whether and why the programme works for whom and in what circumstances. On the basis of Coleman’s (1987; 1990) social macro-micro-macro scheme, a programme theory is developed and generalised as a framework for theorising, planning, visualising and evaluating OD. Pawson & Tilley’s (1997) Realistic Evaluation is chosen as research methodology, modified to match the programme theory’s structure and applied to a large data pool covering the OD programme’s first four years. Using an explanatory sequential mixed methods research design involving path analysis, content analysis and realist interviews, the programme theory is tested and gradually refined. The detailed realist evaluation reveals a number of problems at the level of the social mechanisms on which the OD programme’s effectiveness and sustainability depend. Unintended self-selection mechanisms limit the programme’s prospective fitness for purpose. Also the programme’s own history and organisational ramifications interfere with its regular functioning. Various possibilities for improvements are considered and thoughts on the programme’s transferability to other contexts are offered. The thesis concludes with critical reflections on Realistic Evaluation.