In light of a global higher education expansion, the paper analyses the historic-structural conditions of this development for the German state(s) after World War II. Building on Talcott Parsons citizenship patterns, the analysis centres on two core institutions of the German higher education system: the state-organized system of entitlement ("Berechtigungswesen") and the civil right for access to higher education. The entitlement system established a unique form of vertical and horizontal correspondence between higher education and the labour market. It allowed for a successful transition from university to work ("academization"). As a state monopoly, it also hampered rapid expansion. The civil right to access mediated and restricted efforts to constrain the expansion in Western Germany. Its absence in Eastern Germany lead to contractions after political will changed. A large part of the post-World War II expansion in Germany can be explained through the interplay of the two core institutions. The partial dismantling of the entitlement system after 1998, has led to severe degree differentiation and change. Yet so far, employment fields still consistently adapt to the credential pressure from the expanding public research university.