African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 324: Chapter 7: Pirated ”Stuttgart

Heixinggen.

As a small town, Heixinggen has developed smoothly over the years, but local residents have suddenly found themselves growing distant from the original Heixinggen royal family. The old King Constantine traveled across the ocean, and the young prince is hardly ever in the territory—even when he returns, he mostly resides directly in the castle. Hohenzollern Castle is essentially in the suburbs of the suburbs, not even in the same place as Heixinggen town.

However, because Prussia took over the order, local citizens have gradually gotten used to this life. Now, it should be called Germany. On the day Germany was founded, the residents of Heixinggen spontaneously held a ceremony to celebrate this historic moment for the German nation.

Today, Ernst, this wanderer, has finally returned and rarely comes to the town. The large building complex in the academy district stands in stark contrast to the small and crowded streets of Heixinggen town, which would appear less abrupt if placed in Stuttgart.

But due to the Heixinggen Military Academy, most of the buildings here are constructed to the scale of German higher education institutions, and moreover, on a larger scale. Comparatively, nearby schools seem somewhat lacking.

Looking at the Heixinggen Military Academy he founded with his own hands, Ernst said rather nostalgically, ”The Heixinggen Military Academy has completed its historical mission in Heixinggen. From now on, this will be turned into a university specifically for East African students to learn advanced German knowledge and technology!”

East Africa currently has no plans to establish its own university, partly due to insufficient faculty strength and partly due to a lack of student sources. Hence, higher education in East Africa is still better off relying on Europe. After all, in this era, talented individuals capable of being university teachers are in high demand anywhere and naturally unwilling to develop in places like East Africa, which is akin to exile.

As for student sources, East Africa’s first batch of elementary school students will graduate in half a year, so the development of secondary education in East Africa can be put on the agenda.

Tom: ”Your Highness, do you mean to turn this into a regular German university in the future?”

Ernst nodded and said: ”Yes, we not only need to turn the site of Heixinggen Military Academy into a university but also integrate other schools and transform them into German universities. What do you think we should name it?”

Next to Heixinggen Military Academy are three secondary schools established by the Heixinggen royal family, which together with the Heixinggen Military Academy make up the large academic district adjacent to Heixinggen town, covering an area almost as large as the town itself.

Tom guessed: ”Your Highness, are you planning to turn this area into a study-abroad base for the kingdom?”

Ernst: ”Yes. Although Heixinggen is a bit quiet, it’s not far from Stuttgart. It’s a good place to host educational institutions. People can focus on learning without being too isolated from society.”

Honestly, universities are better placed in cities to attract students, but in the Heixinggen region, students come from East Africa, so it’s not an issue of location; rather, it’s about whether the area can attract teachers.

Adults differ from young people; young individuals are more drawn to big cities, while adults might prefer the bustling city life or the quiet countryside.

Heixinggen’s environment is quite good, and the campus facilities left by the Heixinggen Military Academy are extremely complete—one might even say excessive. There’s little issue with transportation, as Stuttgart is the transportation hub of southwestern Germany, and after German unification, further rail repair and strengthening are inevitable. It takes about half a day to travel from Stuttgart to Heixinggen, so Heixinggen will definitely be integrated into the rail system. Hohenzollern Castle becomes an important military fortress for controlling the main traffic artery from the Black Forest to the Neckar Valley.

North-South direction artery.

Tom: ”Your Highness, you intend to cultivate talent for the kingdom. In that case, why not establish a teacher’s college? In my opinion, Heixinggen’s reputation primarily relies on the Heixinggen Bank. However, the people in the German region don’t really know this small place called Heixinggen, so why not adopt the name of Stuttgart? Stuttgart is indeed a well-known large city within Germany.”

The German people, and even Europeans, are well aware of Heixinggen Bank’s reputation, but they really don’t know that Heixinggen was originally just a place name. Some even mistake Heixinggen for a person’s name, since many European enterprises are named after people.

Ernst: ”Haha, you mean Stuttgart Teacher’s College?”

Indeed, naming it Stuttgart Teacher’s College sounds quite grand. Stuttgart holds a relatively high status in Germany, so this can indeed mislead many teachers who come to apply. Originally thinking the work location was in a big city, they find out upon arrival that it’s in a rural area close to Stuttgart.

It’s somewhat like the Lanzhou University of a previous life. The name suggests it’s in the downtown area of Lanzhou city, but the largest campus is actually more than 40 kilometers from the city center. Coincidentally, Heixinggen is also more than 40 kilometers from Stuttgart.

Tom: ”Your Highness, many Germans with a bit of knowledge know Stuttgart, while Heixinggen, even as a former independent country, ranked among the unknown small states in the many Germanic nations. If we want to attract teachers, we must use some minor tricks.”

Ernst: ”Then let’s go ahead and establish two institutions: a Stuttgart Teacher’s College and a Stuttgart Polytechnic University.”

After saying this, Ernst chuckled somewhat shamelessly. If future Stuttgart citizens knew their city’s name was used to label schools in Heixinggen, who knows how bewildered they would feel.

The dialogue between master and servant reveals the purpose of Ernst’s return—Heixinggen Military Academy is to be relocated to East Africa. As a make-shift military school in Germany, returning to East Africa would mean becoming the official highest military academy.

Previously, the reason for establishing Heixinggen Military Academy in Germany was that the East African colony had just started up and couldn’t bear the construction of Heixinggen Military Academy. Now that the East African kingdom certainly has the ability, it naturally wants to move this cradle of East African military talent back to East Africa.

With the Heixinggen Military Academy relocated, the original site is now vacant, and Ernst naturally wants to make use of it. The buildings are still new, only built a few years ago, and the facilities are not inferior to those of the University of Berlin. Such a good place naturally cannot be left idle.

East Africa will undoubtedly send exchange students to Germany and Austria in the future, just in time to integrate the several schools in Heixinggen to become the base for cultivating talent for East Africa.

Here, German local teachers can be recruited to teach, and they might not be willing to go to East Africa, but Heixinggen is different. The conditions here are not bad, it’s close to home, and living costs are low.

Building the university in Heixinggen has another advantage, which is facilitating East African management of the students abroad. Being too dispersed might nurture talent for Germany for no reason.

These students are all expected to return to East Africa to develop and build East Africa. If they were sent to various schools in Germany to study, East Africa would be unable to monitor their movements promptly; it’s impossible to visit each school to track people, which is a problem that cannot be avoided. East Africa being backward is a reality, and high-end talent generally prefers to flow to developed areas.

By establishing universities in Heixinggen, students have more limited exposure to German big cities. This place is still the royal family’s previous stronghold, and as for the subjects needed by East Africa, hiring the relevant teachers solves that issue.