Ever since universities began charging for their services, the tuition fee debate has remained an inflammatory one. The latest development looks set to fan the flames even more.

In Germany, each federal state can decide how many students to exempt from tuition fees and the reasons why, such as whether a student has a disability, a serious illness or a young child. But it is up to the university itself to decide which students will get an exemption from fees that can reach 500 euros ($674) per semester.

In Baden-Württemberg, some universities recently decided that students with exceptional mental skills can also be excused. In Freiburg, 21 students have already been exempted from the fee requirement on the basis of their IQ scores.

A class issue

At the root of this controversial move is the increased competition among the German universities to attract the nation's most promising scholars, thereby boosting their chances of gaining "elite school" status, and more federal funding.

"We want to give this a go," Freiburg University's spokesman Rudolf-Werner Dreier told the daily taz. "We want to attract the best minds without erecting social obstacles."

But critics of the program doubt it will benefit the right students. Talking to taz, Michael Hartmann from the Darmstadt Technical University said he felt IQ tests were not an efficient way of identifying students with the most potential.

"Students from what are known as educated backgrounds are better equipped to learn," he argued. "They are also familiar with selection procedures and feel less intimidated by them."

Not such a clever idea?

Other universities have similar policies. Tübingen University waives first-semester fees for freshmen boasting outstanding secondary-school grades. In Hamburg, the best students of any given year are exempted from paying for the privilege of learning.

While some commentators insist that financial incentives are an acceptable way to raise academic standards, others argue that the logical consequence of the plan in Freiburg is that the wealthiest universities will be those with the least intelligent students.