Germany can take a lot of credit for shaping the western university system. From the 19th century on, its progressive, research-orientated institutions set the pace in higher education, drawing in students and academics from elsewhere who would later implement many of those ideas and practices back home at places including Harvard and, indirectly, Oxbridge. (If that PhD is robbing you of sleep, blame the Germans.)

Much has changed since those halcyon days, not least the assault on Jewish academics by the Nazis. But academia and all its attendant distinctions — those Herr and Frau Drs scattered across public life, from the chancellery to the boardroom to the press gallery — still hold a special place in Germany’s self-image.

All the more galling, then, that these days German universities often appear as also-rans on the international scene. Scroll down the rankings of the world’s top universities and it takes a while before you hit Munich or Heidelberg behind all those American, British and, increasingly, Chinese institutions.