For years students in Germany dreamed of spending a few semesters on the bucolic campuses of American colleges and universities; not many Americans would venture to German universities, due to the language challenges, the overcrowded classrooms and the difficulty in navigating the institutional bureaucracies. But now the trend is reversed, or at least equalized: approximately the same number of Americans are matriculating at German universities as German students coming to the US to study. The main reason behind this trend is not difficult to discern: cost. Tuition, fees and living expenses at a private college in the US can easily cost between $40,000 and $60,0000 per year. Tuition at a university in Germany is zero, and a foreign student can get a generous stipend courtesy of the Federal Government (DAAD).
One other attraction for American students which didn't exist when I was a student in Germany: more and more courses are being offered in English:
Attraktiver geworden ist das Studium in Deutschland sicherlich auch, weil mehr und mehr Studieninhalte auf Englisch angeboten werden. Der Hochschulkompass der Hochschulrektorenkonferenz listet 1020 Studiengänge an deutschen Hochschulen, in denen hauptsächlich auf Englisch gelehrt wird.
But there are other benefits for Americans who study in Germany. The American professor Mark Roche has studied both the American and German systems and sees advantages for self-motivated students at German universities, where students are not nearly as pampered and spoon-fed as they are at an American liberal arts college:
Was können die Vereinigten Staaten lernen? Erstens sind Flexibilität und Unabhängigkeit des Studenten, beides Merkmale der deutschen Universitätstradition, wichtige Prinzipien des Lernens. Studenten lernen mehr, wenn sie Selbständigkeit und Initiative beweisen müssen. Deutsche Studenten hatten die Freiheit, sich geistigen Fragen gleichsam organisch zu widmen, mithin auf ganz andere Weise, als dies die Schülermentalität an den meisten amerikanischen Universitäten nahelegt. Dort werden viele Hausaufgaben verteilt, die den Studenten nicht dazu auffordern, sich in ein Thema um seiner selbst willen zu vertiefen oder aus eigenem Antrieb die weiterführenden Fragen, die sich aus dem Studium ergeben, zu verfolgen.
("What can the US learn? First that flexibility and independence - the hallmarks of the German university tradition - are guiding principles in learning. Students learn more when they have to show self-reliance and initiative. Students in Germany had the freedom to pursue intellectual issues organically, in a completely different manner than the pupil mentality that one sees at American universities. There a lot of homework is assigned which doesn't compel the students to research a topic in depth on their own or, at their own accord look into other issues that arise from the initial research.")
Germany could also benefit from these American students as well as students of other nationalities to contribute their creativity and different perspectives to the workforce once they complete their studies. Unfortunately, very few German companies hire foreign students, so most end up leaving Germany which generously paid for their education.
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