By Nick Clark, Assistant Editor, WENR

Legislative Framework

German unification in 1990 ushered in an educational reform program aimed largely at superimposing the West German system of higher education over the eastern system. Some of the changes included updating technical standards, increasing enrollments and downsizing faculty and staff in East German institutions of higher education. In addition, many of the technical schools (fachschulen) were shut down and polytechnics (fachhochschulen) established in their place. As the century drew to a close however, attention shifted to the shortcomings of the West German system.

The ensuing critical dialogue revolved around a number of issues but mostly focused on the duration of study programs, introduction of tuition fees and internationalization of German higher education. Several reform measures were implemented as a result of these debates. At present, the majority of German universities are participating in ECTS (European Transfer Credit System). The federal government also promulgated the new Framework Act for Higher Education (Hochschulrahmengesetz) in 1998 (last amended 2002), which — among other things — lifted the ban on tuition fees. Not surprisingly, the move has generated considerable controversy in many circles within Germany where education has always been paid for by the state. Federal and state governments are also trying to eliminate the homogeneous character of the higher education system by actively encouraging competition among individual institutions.

Germany has introduced two new internationally recognized degrees, the Bakkalaureus (bachelor’s) and the Magister (master’s), to enhance the international compatibility of German qualifications, increase student mobility, and make the country’s study programs more attractive to foreign students. Many of the new degree programs, still in the experimental stages, are being offered in English. Below we have outlined the traditional degree structure, which has not been abolished, and the two new academic qualifications introduced in line with the Bologna Declaration.

1. Easily Readable and Comparable Degrees

• The diploma supplement was introduced in the year 2000 and has been endorsed by both the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) and by the Rectors’ Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz )—HRK. Since then the diploma supplement has also been officially incorporated into the requirements for the documentation of academic awards and as an element of the accreditation procedure for study programs.
• The HRK provides a software package of the Diploma Supplement Deutschland (DSD) which, while fully compatible with the European diploma supplement model, is geared towards the specific documentary needs of the German system.
• ENIC/NARIC responsibilities are shared by the Central Office for Foreign Education at the KMK and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
• As of March 17, 2004, Germany has signed but not ratified the Lisbon Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region.

2. Degree Structure

• The Framework Act for Higher Education was amended in 1998 to allow for the introduction of a new two-tiered degree structure to supplement the traditional integrated system of long, first degrees. Under the legislation, amended in 2002, the KMK emphasized that the new first-degree cycle should allow immediate access to the labor market. The legislation also stipulates that the standard period of undergraduate study shall be between three and four years (within a 3+2 or 4+1 framework).
• The introduction of bachelor and master’s degrees has been relatively slow in Germany for a couple of reasons. Firstly, education officials have been keen to stress the need for careful testing of the new degrees, particularly with regard to the acceptance of the new degrees within the labor market. Secondly, it has largely been left up to each individual institution to decide whether or not to introduce the new “Bologna” degrees or retain the traditional long degrees.
• All new programs leading to the award of either bachelor or master’s degrees are required to obtain accreditation, a quality assurance procedure that was hitherto unknown in Germany. The number of new bachelor and master programs has outstripped accreditation capabilities, which has led to a large backlog of programs awaiting accreditation.
• In the summer of 2002, German higher education institutions offered 544 bachelor’s programs (enrolling 12,409 students) and 367 master’s programs (enrolling 6,536 students). In the fachhochschulen sector, the number of new students entering bachelor and master’s programs in 2001/2002 only amounted to three percent of the total enrollments for that sector.
• At the end of January 2004, a study conducted at the University of Kassel totaled the number of bachelor and master’s degree programs for the previous academic year at 1,800, constituting 15 percent of the total programs offered in the country.
• The latest German Bologna update (April 2002) predicts that “the number of students in these [bachelor/master] courses will markedly increase in the coming years, particularly since some universities are currently preparing or planning in the near future for the large-scale introduction of such a two-tier degree structure.”

Old System

Stage I: The fachhochschulen (polytechnics) award the Diplom (FH) in engineering, business administration and the social sciences after four years of full-time study. Fachhochschulen are distinct from universities in that their programs have different entry requirements, shorter duration periods and are more practically oriented.

Stages I and II: Students who enter universities can earn one of three types of qualifications: 1) the Diplom degree awarded in science, engineering, economics and social sciences; 2) the Magister Artium (master of arts) in liberal arts and humanities; 3) the Staatsexamen (state examination) in fields regulated by the state (teaching, medicine and law). Although programs leading to these degrees require a minimum duration period of four to five years, most students take much longer to graduate.

• NOTE: The diplom, magister artium, and staatsexamen degrees incorporate both first and second levels of higher education. Holders of these diplomas have completed the second stage of university study.

Stage III: The final stage of higher education usually leads to the Doktor (doctoral degree) and the Habilitation (higher doctorate) awarded by universities. Admission to a doctoral degree program requires an above average grade in the final examinations for the diplom, magister or staatsexamen degrees. The time needed to earn a doctoral degree depends on the amount of work required to complete the dissertation, something which is agreed on between the student and his/her professor. Earning a doctorate requires writing a dissertation and the completion of an oral examination. There is no coursework for this degree in Germany.

New System (Reforms)

• Two new degrees, the Bakkalaureus and Magister, have been introduced and will coexist alongside the traditional one-tiered system. None of the old German qualifications will be abolished; the diplom, magister and staatsexamen will continue to serve as the standard final qualifications for German programs of study despite their incompatibility abroad. It has been left up to individual institutions to decide whether to offer the new qualifications alongside the traditional German degrees.
• The new system complies with the Bologna Declaration’s objective of dividing higher education into two clearly differentiated cycles: a first degree (undergraduate studies) and a second degree (graduate studies). The bakkalaureus was introduced to meet the demands of the changing labor market. Duration requirements for the new bachelor’s programs are a minimum of three and a maximum of four years.
• Despite the enthusiasm generated by the new two-tiered system, many university faculties have been slow to jump on the bandwagon, preferring instead to wait and watch for further developments.
• In 2003, the National Union of Students in Germany issued a report indicating that the implementation of the two-tier structure at fachhochschulen has led to a reduction in the “practical” elements of the curricula. The report states that in most cases the curricula of the old diplom programs, which lasted 3,5 years, have been shortened by dropping the compulsory Praxissemester (internship).

3. Credit Transfer

• German institutions participated widely in the pilot-schemes to develop ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) within the framework of the Socrates/Erasmus mobility programs prior to the signing of the Bologna Declaration. Today a majority of German universities are utilizing ECTS to varying degrees, from experimental introduction in single programs to the compulsory and full-scale use in all departments.
• In September 2000, the KMK adopted general criteria for the introduction of a credit system based on ECTS principles. The system is student workload based and used for accumulation and transfer. One year of full-time study is equivalent to 60 credits, in line with the ECTS model.
• A number of university programs have posted ECTS grade equivalencies on their Web sites. Although these grading scales do not represent official equivalencies, they provide an idea of how ECTS and the German grading system might compare:
  • Universität Jena
  • Universität Regensburg

4. Mobility

• One of the major issues being discussed with regard to the structural reform process of German higher education is the need for greater internationalization. Critics have long decried the inattentiveness of the country’s universities to the needs of foreign students, the lengthy duration of degree programs and the incompatibility of German degrees internationally. More recently they have pointed to the precipitous drop in the number of foreign applicants from Asia-Pacific and Latin America. The concern is that international students in Germany, who often go on to become business and political leaders in their home countries, will go elsewhere to study if German universities can’t provide them with what they’re looking for.
• About one-third of Germany’s fachhochschulen currently offer international degree programs in which some part of the studies are spent at a foreign institution or company.
• Several recent improvements for foreign students in Germany include: the introduction of free German language programs, special student advisors in individual departments, tutoring programs and service packages offered by social welfare organizations at German universities.
• Foreign students studying in Germany are not charged tuition fees, and an increasing number of degrees are being offered in English.
• In terms of faculty mobility through the Erasmus program, Germany had the highest total of incoming and outgoing faculty exchanges in 2001/2002. In terms of student numbers it was third behind Spain and France with 16,626 outgoing students and 15,474 incoming.

5. Quality Assurance

• An inter-institutional system of quality assurance is emerging in Germany, supplementing the existing quality assurance procedures conducted by individual institutions of higher education.
• The KMK and the HRK have established the Akkreditierungsrat (Accreditation Council), whose primary function is to review new bachelor and master programs. The aim of accreditation is to ensure minimum standards with regard to curricula and to assess the professional relevance of the degrees awarded. Program accreditation with regard to study contents is based on the provisions set forth in the Framework Act for Higher Education and on the structural objectives defined for these programs by the KMK.
• Accreditation procedures are mainly implemented by different agencies (regional agencies and discipline-specific agencies). The Akkreditierungsrat accredits these agencies and in exceptional cases also study programs. Such agencies as well as the degree programs accredited by them will bear the quality official seal of the Akkreditierungsrat.
• Internationally, the Akkreditierungsrat coordinates its actions and policies with accreditation institutions performing comparable functions and responsibilities in other countries. At present, these are the Österreichischer Akkreditierungsrat (Austria), the Schweizerisches Organ für Akkreditierung und Qualitätssicherung (Switzerland), the Hungarian Accreditation Council (HAC) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) in the United States.

6. Promotion of European Dimensions in Higher Education

• The French-German University (Deutsch-Französische Hochschule – DFH), which conducts educational exchanges and offers joint degrees has taken over the functions of the French-German Higher Education College (Deutsch-Französisches Hochschulkolleg) since January 2000. The university currently enrolls some 4,000 students in more than 100 French-German study programs.
• The EUA Survey on Master Degrees and Joint Degrees in Europe (2002) estimated that German institutions of higher education offered a total of 300 joint degree programs. Approximately half of those programs were with French partner institutions.

References

• Survey on Master Degrees and Joint Degrees in Europe, Christian Tauch and Andrejs Rauhvargers, Sept. 2002
• The State of Implementation of ECTS in Europe, European University Association, Oct. 2002
• Diploma Supplement — State of Implementation, European Commission, last update June 2003
• Lisbon Convention Status Reports, Council of Europe, status as of August 29, 2003
• The Information Network on Education in Europe — Eurydice, European Union
• German Experiences in Higher Education Reform, the two-tier system of degrees — Presentation by Professor Klaus Landfield, January 2001
• Realizing the Goals of the Bologna Declaration in Germany, Joint Report HRK, KMK, BMBF; April 2002
• Failing Bologna. State of Implementation of the Bologna Objectives in Germany, the National Union of Students in Germany, June 2003University of Management
• Implementation of the Bologna Declaration: Germany, World Education News & Reviews, March/April 2001
• Erasmus Mobility by Country 2001/2002 — ECTS Workshop, Feb. 20-21, 2003, UK Socrates Erasmus Council
• The Information Network on Education in Europe — Eurydice, European Union