191–200 of 254 posts
It is the same situation in Norway. International students pay no tuition (and we have the same debate here whether to continue this situation...). On the other hand, living costs in Norway are quite high.
Are courses in Norwegian?
One thing to highlight is that German universities are very different to the American system of small groups, interaction with students, labs, hand-holding, etc. Traditional German education is one where you are not obliged to go to classes and you only have one final exam at the end of the semester. Some classes had up to 800 students. In other classes, we never got to see the professor and we were taught by a PhD student. Nobody knew your name and you were just another face, if you ever showed up to class. Thus, the marginal cost of having an additional local or foreign student is minimum.
This system is not for everyone and given that my classes were all in German, it was very challenging. University-level German (vocabulary, idioms, etc) is very different from the one you learn at the Sprachkurs. Most foreign students dropped out and went back home. This is also accentuated by the fact that if you fail an exam 3 times, you are expelled from the university and you are banned from studying that study field for life across all German universities.
Moreover, German universities do not have their own sport facilities and luxurious campuses as their American counterparts. Normally, for sports, there is a shared facility for all local universities and you pay an extra semester ticket to have access. The average German university has old facilities and no luxuries. Thus, the cost base is completely different to universities in the US.
Back then, we were told that Germany offers education to foreigners to foster relations with foreign countries. If we foreigners study in Germany and are shaped the German way, once we go home, not only we will be well qualified, but also we will be keen to establish business relations with German companies.
During my study times, around 2006, they introduced at my university fees for everyone. The idea was not popular and it was not covering the cost of education. The idea did not last long. Some years later it went back to be free for everyone. German universities are very left-leaning and in the German society there is a wide consensus that university education should be free for all.
The CDU and FDP, two political parties on the right spectrum, constantly push the idea of charging foreign students to help finance public education, but the idea has never gotten any type of support in the society.
The article is wrong on so many ways. The author states that foreign students _plan_ on staying in Germany, however that is not what is actually happening. 41% of students abandon their studies before they have a degree. Out of the students that finish their degree, only 36% remain in Germany. Out of those remaining, more than half of them need more than 1 year(!) to land a job, indicating that they may not have the…
"Shortage" is not the right frame of refrence here, because it implies a fixed-size pie. Having an educated population tends to grow the pie for everyone (on average over a longer observation period).
It's not like there is a fixed number of jobs mined from the soil of each country. This sort of flawed thinking is at the core of most "immigrants are taking our jobs" sort of fears.
While I think it is good for both Germany and students, it probably has a bit of geopolitics mixed in. All those young people, if they return to their home countries, will be naturally more oriented toward German products thus indirectly making German economy stronger. I saw a similar theme in Russia, where there is even a specialized university for this [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples%27_Friendship_Uni…
If you are a young person living in a poor country, the two best investments you can make to improve your standard of living are (a) get a university education; and (b) immigrate to a rich country. Germany offers both: 1. A free undergraduate university degree 2. For every graduate: 18 month work visa after graduation 3. For every STEM graduate who earns more than EUR 40,000 per year: approval to work in Germany fore…
The worst part is that you do not have a guarantee that you will graduate. I knew many cases of foreign students, who invested 3-4 years of their life and were expelled from the university for failing their final exams. They returned home with nothing on their hands.
In my opinion, unless German IT companies accept to work in English because available workforce in neighbor countries already know English, or they're going to have problems attracting world-class talent. I.e. accepting as "acceptable behavior" people not willing to learn German as a requirement.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's cheap but not quality.
> It's cheap but not quality. Do you care to elaborate on that? If I look at the Times Higher Education ranking for Teaching, I see e.g. Heidelberg University on world rank 43: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankin... (Just picked because it's the first university in Baden-Württemberg I found; obviously, for specific subjects the rankings might vary a bit.) That's not MIT or Harvard, but if tha…
I'm a graduating senior in India, interested in studying math as an undergraduate. Considering that I know some German (~B1), could this work out for me?
> Why Germany Educates International Students for Free One thing to remember: That university education may not be that expensive does not mean everybody is allowed to study. Universities often set high barriers. In Germany 27% of young adults get an university degree. OECD average is 40%. It's not because Germans are more stupid, but because there are less students allowed to enter University education. Also there a…
That's interesting. Are there options for the 73% that don't go to Uni? Trade schools? What about at lower levels (ages 5-12)... do kids get to progress to the next level regardless of performance in an annual exam (like the US "no child left behind" policy), or do they have to have to repeat a year/level if they fail?
Typically in Germany there is/was a three-tiered system after the 4th class: Hauptschule (5th to 9th year), Realschule (5th to 10th year) and Gymnasium (5th to 12th or 13th year). With a degree at a Hauptschule you can only begin an apprenticeship at some jobs, with a degree on a Realschule an apprenticeship in all jobs and with a Gymnasium degree (Abitur) you are allowed to study at a university or Fachhochschule ("Fachhochschule" is often translated with "school of applied science", but I think there is no real translation, since this is a very German concept: You study some applied subject (traditionally engineering) there with little focus on research question, but it is a lot more school-like than universities (few elective subjects, "more like sitting in a classroom").
This basic three-tiered system has now been convoluted (for example often "Hauptschule" and "Realschule" are often combined into a "Sekundarschule" (translating this with "secondary school" is in my opinion a false friend) or there also exist comprehensive schools that encompass all three tiers, but I think you get the basic idea.
To what kind of secondary school you may go is decided on the marks in the 4th class.
Now to your question: If your marks are too bad, you have to repeat a year (which reflects badly in your CV!) or (also not untypical) are "advised" to switch to a "lower tier" school. Details for these rules change all the time, but I would consider it as typical that at most one 5 (second worst mark) is allowed in a primary subject and at most two 5s are allowed in all subjects for passing. Also no 6 (worst mark) is allowed for passing.
Also it is often very typical that at a Gymnasium that you have to have good marks to be allowed to attend the Oberstufe (11th to 12th or 13th year) - otherwise you only get a "Realschulabschluss/erweiterter Sekundarschulabschluss" (two different names for mostly the same concept).
Funny. I took care of foreign students in my German university and they get exploited the hell out. At first they pay more than German students for the same semester, despite having worse chances to succeed (language barrier, culture barrier, fewer friends/family etc). Then they have to join preparation courses one way or another, because, you know, German isn't easy. Then they hardly get access to the public student…
Citation needed. Never heard of any differences in fees for foreigners.
> Then they hardly get access to the public student dorms
Not in my experience. Dorms are full of foreigh students.
> and are put 3-6 people in old, unclean apartments far away from university (partly without public transport access)
"Are put"? What you describe is a "WG" ("Wohngemeinschaft" roughly "living community") which is simply a co-rental. So nobody "is put" there, you search and rent what you can find. WGs are generally recommended for foreign students because it allows better socializing and integration.
> EACH of them pays as much as a German would pay for the whole apartment
What you state is that a foreigner typically pays 3x-6x compared to a native, which is false. The price for 1 room in a WG is normally somewhat lower than for a 1-room-appartment.
> Old dudes (teachers, profs, organizers) dating barely legal girls in exchange for favors also is accepted practice.
University typically starts at the age of 21-23. Since you call this "barely legal" this points out that you either not know what you are talking about or intentionally make false claims.
I live and work in Germany since 2001, I've worked as a researcher at a university institution 2001-2004 and knew a lot of foreign students, also as close friends. Your post is not compatible with the reality that I know.