A special type of FH are the Verwaltungsfachhochschulen (universities of applied sciences in public administration) which train civil servants for state and federal government. There are 30 of these schools offering education in general administration, as well as specific fields like policing, taxation, or public finance. There were no exams in 2021. The 2020-21 question paper resources are, for most subjects, modified papers which reflect the modifications put in place for session 2020-21

What makes these programs highly attractive is the fact that German public universities charge only minimal tuition fees, even for international students—a distinct advantage considering the often-exorbitant costs of study in other international study destinations. No less than 20 percent of all students enrolled in master’s programs in Germany are now international students. In PhD programs, international students even account for 25 percent of all enrollments—a trend that is actively promoted by the German government: 49 percent of all international doctoral students in Germany received public scholarship funding in 2018.

Entry requirements

The Photo card task is recommended to last between four and five minutes in total at Foundation tier. At Higher tier, the Photo card task Montessori institutions are another type of independent private school in Germany. There are about 1,000 of them, most of them early childhood education institutions, but there are also various Montessori schools at the secondary level. These schools are officially allowed to operate, but students need to sit for graduation examinations at public schools to obtain an official German qualification. There are also schools that train Montessori teachers. These institutions typically offer shorter diploma courses in conjunction with an official German teaching qualification. (For more information on the Montessori education model, see here). Tertiary Education for the tier. Ie, nine minutes for Foundation tier and twelve minutes for Higher tier. Foundation and Higher tier

However, these reforms have been sharply criticized, particularly by universities and organizations like the German Association of Engineers. The German Rectors Conference denounced the new degree names as confusing terms that obscure the distinctions between academic and practically oriented vocational education, both of which require different sets of competencies. The president of the conference argued that the new names give the false impression that vocational programs are of academic nature, particularly in other countries, where the degrees of bachelor and master are predominantly reserved for university qualifications. Indeed, the new degree names are likely to confuse some international credential evaluators. It’s the position of World Education Services that the vocational qualifications of Bachelor Professional and Master Professional are not directly comparable with academic degrees awarded by universities in the U.S. and Canadian contexts. Differentiated Higher and Foundation tier resources designed to give students the tools to apply language in different contexts, enabling them to demonstrate their knowledge and skills to the best of their ability. In 2019, there were reportedly 177 international schools in Germany, teaching English-language curricula such as the International Baccalaureate (IB), British, or U.S. curricula to some 95,000 students, about 75 of them expat children and a quarter of them German. Most of these schools are expensive private schools with a comparatively small student body. However, there are also some public schools that offer IB programs in addition to regular German programs, enabling students to earn an IB Diploma free of charge. There were 85 IB schools in Germany in 2020. The IB is officially recognized as a university entrance qualification in Germany, as long as students study a certain combination of subjects. There were no data for the post-pandemic 2020 summer semester available as of this writing, but it’s clear that the pandemic led to a sharp drop in the number of international students in Germany, as it did in other host countries. According to Uni-assist, Germany’s main credential evaluation agency, for instance, the number of international applications for the winter semester 2020 was down by 20 percent compared with that of the previous year. Interviews of students from India, the second-largest sending country of international students to Germany, reflect that student mobility is currently hampered by concerns about diminished employment prospects after graduation, logistical hurdles, as well as apprehensions about educational quality, given that German universities have since the pandemic switched to blended learning, combining face-to-face instruction with online courses. On the other hand, the Bologna reforms call for structured third cycle programs and have led to the introduction of more “schoolified” doctoral programs in Germany in recent years. These structured programs most commonly require at least one year of compulsory coursework and interim assessments in addition to dissertation research. Most have a set length of three or four years (180 to 240 ECTS) and are taught in English, which means that they are more accessible for international students. Admission requires a master’s degree or equivalent qualification (Diplom, Magister, state exam), although exceptionally qualified candidates who hold a bachelor’s degree may occasionally be admitted as well. Most structured programs lead to the Doctor of Philosophy degree, or PhD ( Philosophiae Doktor ). While current comprehensive data on these programs are unavailable, it’s clear that they’re growing in popularity in Germany. By some estimates, 23 percent of doctoral candidates were enrolled in structured programs in 2015. HabilitationOf note, Germany suffers from a shortage of teachers, notably in the eastern part of the country. While there’s currently an ample supply of upper-secondary teachers, particularly in western states, the country will face a shortfall of between 10,000 and 26,000 elementary teachers by 2025, depending on the estimate. Growing nationwide teacher shortages are also expected in lower-secondary education, as well as in vocational schools, where some estimates forecast a gap of 60,000 teachers by 2030.

Law education is divided into two stages: an initial university program with a nominal length of five years that culminates in the first state exam in law, followed by a two-year clerkship that is accompanied by theoretical seminars and concludes with the second state exam in law ( Zweite Juristische Staatspr üfung). Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws degrees are also awarded, but these qualifications are more geared toward business law or other specific fields, and do not grant full access to the profession. Teacher EducationAdmission into public universities in Germany is generally based on the final Abitur grade, which determines how fast students get admitted into their program of choice. Although all Abitur holders are eligible for admission, those with lower grades must often wait longer to enter. The way the system works is that universities consider the number of semesters that have passed since applicants graduated from upper-secondary school with each semester in waiting increasing the chances of admission. In addition to students who meet the minimum grade threshold in a given academic year, a certain number of students are admitted based on waiting periods. The length of these waiting periods varies by field of study. While programs with enough seats admit students instantaneously without delays, applicants in popular fields like medicine or law may have to wait for several years. Additional entrance requirements are relatively uncommon for students with the Abitur, but some programs also require admissions tests or demonstrated foreign language skills. Note that Rhineland-Palatinate has had a special system since 1975, the Mainzer Studienstufe, which is 12.7 years in length to allow students to sit for the Abitur exams a few months early to facilitate seamless university admission. In terms of assessment, German universities continue to use the traditional German grading scale. While HEIs are technically required to use the ECTS grading scale alongside the German scale, it isn’t commonly used. Given that the ECTS scale is a relational or rank-based scale that measures how well students perform in comparison with other students, the absolute German grades cannot be directly converted into ECTS grades. While some institutions list ECTS grades in addition to German grades on their transcripts, the ECTS ranking is mostly limited to final degree examinations, if it is used at all (see the sample document issued by the University of Duisburg Essen linked at the end of this article). Speaking exam (with the lecturer, around March/April) and final written SQA exam (at College, Sighthill campus, usually in May) Realschule programs are academically more demanding and take an additional year to complete (grade 10). It’s possible for students who completed Hauptschule to seamlessly transfer into these programs, which generally comprise the same subjects. There are usually centralized state examinations at the end of the program. Students graduate with the Zeugnis des Realschulabschlusses (certificate of completion of Realschule), sometimes also called Mittlere Reife (intermediate maturity).