Germany’s great tuition fees U-turn • Hacker News Board

Re: Germany’s great tuition fees U-turn

#91

Post by riffraff » Wed, Oct 01, 2014, 2:58 PM UTC

tegeek wrote: post #78

jbangert wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without going into the metrics that these rankings use and their flaws, the German university system unfortunately focuses less on "elite" universitities, instead trying to create a good average experience, so most of the universities are actually fairly on-par with each other in terms of funding, and therefore also research output, teaching, etc. That being said, my experience with high-prestige american universitie…

I think you are right. Sweden is more or less has the same model as German when it comes to higher education. There are no particular "elite" universities & most of the universities are more or less on the same level when it comes to funding, research output, teaching etc. Even as an International student back in 2008, I paid 0$ in tuition fees & used to pay 30$ as student union fee per study term/semester and have b…

and yet Karolinska University is 36th in the above list (the top university in the EU-sans-UK) while Stockholm University is 106th.

The higher education list is quite unrelated to normal person perception, imo.

Re: Germany’s great tuition fees U-turn

#92

Post by VLM » Wed, Oct 01, 2014, 2:58 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #27

Heliosmaster wrote: post #2

* University education? free * Article to read about it? Pay for it. This beautifully sums up the differences of education and news.

I have no idea what this comparison is supposed to mean. Where does journalism come from? The Department of Journalism?

In the UK, most (admittedly not all) real journalism comes from mandatory government taxes paid to the BBC.

You're looking at the private college equivalent of journalism here, not a free public uni.

Re: Germany’s great tuition fees U-turn

#93

Post by pranayairan » Wed, Oct 01, 2014, 2:58 PM UTC

nice, it will promote more college education for people who drop of due to tuition fees.

Re: Germany’s great tuition fees U-turn

#94

Post by Igglyboo » Wed, Oct 01, 2014, 3:00 PM UTC

valarauca1 wrote: post #76

Igglyboo wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I go to Oakland University in Michigan and we are the only University in the state(country?) to charge no fees. Tuition is still high but that is usually set by the state.

What is Oakland's Rough cost per semester? I live in the area and attend their security conferences from the outside looking in it seems like a decent school. I already work as an software developer but a degree doesn't hurt my career options.

About ~6k a semester, assuming 16 credit hours. The university also gave me a ton of grant money for good grades/ACT score in HS.

It's a pretty nice school honestly, I think a lot of people in the area look down at it because it's mostly a commuter school but it's comparable to MSU in quality of education and way cheaper.

Re: Germany’s great tuition fees U-turn

#95

Post by 3pt14159 » Wed, Oct 01, 2014, 3:00 PM UTC

GolfyMcG wrote: post #57

Why has no one brought up how the top German university is "ranked" 55th on this list: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-ranki... I'm not saying this list is definitive or that the US tuition prices are reasonable, but it stands to reason that the best of the best of anything is going to be exponentially more expensive than it's next closest competitors.

That link is laughably bad, at least for Canadian universities.

U of Toronto at #20 world wide? Impossible. People are not lining up to get into Toronto. I was offered a full scholarship at my first choice at Toronto, and didn't even get my first choice at Waterloo.

Waterloo behind 7 or 8 other Canadian universities? Also impossible.

Re: Germany’s great tuition fees U-turn

#96

Post by 2ion » Wed, Oct 01, 2014, 3:01 PM UTC

garagemc2 wrote: post #85

taejo wrote: post #37

I'm a student at a German university, and I don't pay tuition fees, but I do pay about 400€ a year in "semester fees", of which the two largest components are "student services" and a compulsory season ticket for regional transport; student union membership and some kind of insurance contribution are also included.

Hey quick question - are comp sci courses in Germany taught in English throughout?

No, it depends on the university. The predominant language of teaching in undergraduate courses in Germany is still German. However, the amount of course offerings in English language is increasing. The most common model now should be that a few classes each semester are being offered in English, which are often being taught by visiting professors or guest lecturers.

Re: Germany’s great tuition fees U-turn

#97

Post by bharath28 » Wed, Oct 01, 2014, 3:01 PM UTC

ionised wrote: post #81

raverbashing wrote: post #73

I find the "American model" and the "European model" dichotomy very interesting. American model: individually centered, "pay for what you want", development is driven by small companies and individual decisions (most of the time). "Works for me" European model: centered on the community, social support, development by committee/government/consensus. Slow but directed improvements Germany could not have produced Faceb…

The way you describe it makes the EU system sound preferable.

This. And that somehow a viable combination of the two approaches can't be built.

Re: Germany’s great tuition fees U-turn

#98

Post by pmontra » Wed, Oct 01, 2014, 3:01 PM UTC

Jump on the time machine and read about university concerns when the city of Hamburg joined this trend in 2011 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/15/german-universi... Is there any German here that can tell us how it is turning out to be? Thanks.

Re: Germany’s great tuition fees U-turn

#99

Post by MrBuddyCasino » Wed, Oct 01, 2014, 3:02 PM UTC

yodsanklai wrote: post #53

nhaehnle wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social mobility in Germany is very low, doing consistently worse than e.g. the Scandinavian countries (I remember seeing sources claim that it is even worse than the US, but there seems to be no agreement on that). However, as far as education is concerned, it would be wrong to blame universities. The German school system is very stratified, "locking in" a child's destiny at a young age. Via parents who understand th…

Social mobility is very low in France as well and education is pretty much free.

Well the french elite is commonly described as being a pretty incestuous affair. There a few elite schools, and the countries top politicians and industry leaders are all recruited from there.

Not saying they are worse than the german system, but certainly not better.

Re: Germany’s great tuition fees U-turn

#100

Post by pessimizer » Wed, Oct 01, 2014, 3:04 PM UTC

raverbashing wrote: post #73

I find the "American model" and the "European model" dichotomy very interesting. American model: individually centered, "pay for what you want", development is driven by small companies and individual decisions (most of the time). "Works for me" European model: centered on the community, social support, development by committee/government/consensus. Slow but directed improvements Germany could not have produced Faceb…

Germany could have produced facebook.

edit: maybe better framed as a question - why do you think that Germany could not have produced facebook?