Universities are Free again in Germany

Freakbro

Freakbro

Freakbro

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So after seeing a BBC report this morning, it seems after a few short years of charging tuition fees, which were very modest anyway, Germany has gone back to Free University places - Including Masters degrees if they follow on the same subject as the Bachelors degree.

This is for all students, local, EU and International.

The report this morning was about the massive influx of American students this has caused since they can avoid the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars debt they are currently lumbering themselves with, but this applies to all students, not just Americans.

So, how can Germany afford this, while we are being told our system is still creaking from underfunding even with the very substantial fees being charged.

It was said that all it takes is 40% of the Foreign Graduates to stay on in Germany for 5 years after graduating for the boost to the economy to have paid for their tuition costs.

Seems like progressive thinking again to me, investing in people/your country reaps more financial rewards in the long run than our current model of cutting everything back and pushing the debt on to the individual.
 
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Yep, I read that report and it does seems a good long-term plan. It is worth saying though my daughter studies computing in the USA at Carnegie Mellon and we pay a fraction compared to Cambridge if she had taken the route. So it is worth looking at all options and the US doesn't always work out more expensive.
 
If they do a massive u-turn in the UK shortly, after I picked the wrong bleddy year to start university (first year of £9k fees), I will go crazy.
 
It doesn't take a genius to realise a better educated workforce increases productivity and thus GDP.

Simple economics really - to make a little, you need to spend a little.
 
Germany tries to push worthwhile degrees, whereas the UK would have you believe any old crap is worth 9 grand.

The culture in UK education is toxic.
 
StriderX said:
Germany tries to push worthwhile degrees, whereas the UK would have you believe any old crap is worth 9 grand.

The culture in UK education is toxic.
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I had heard this was changing though with lots of what are being classed as 'not worthy' courses now no longer being funded/offered?

I agree though it does seem instead of aiming for the noble goal of educating 50% of the population to a higher level we just reduced the bar to achieve a 50% attendance goal, which seems absurd.
 
Xordium said:
Yep, I read that report and it does seems a good long-term plan. It is worth saying though my daughter studies computing in the USA at Carnegie Mellon and we pay a fraction compared to Cambridge if she had taken the route. So it is worth looking at all options and the US doesn't always work out more expensive.
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Has she got some funding/scholarship from them or are their fees rather modest compared to other US institutions?

Most of the top US schools would seem to have higher fees than the 9k per year charged by the UK universities but also seem to have plenty of funds and will seemingly subsidise people for a variety of reasons from academic achievement to race and parent's income. I remember reading about a girl in the UK, straight A* student, rejected from Oxford but on the bright side given a free ride by Harvard with a fully funded place.
 
I believe Switzerland offers free university education too, they're not doing too badly either. Having said that I'm not sure you can opt to study the likes of 'Media and Gender Studies' at the Swiss equivalent to a poly...

StriderX said:
Most EU universities teach in English I think.
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IIRC that is more for post grad level courses but I wouldn't be surprised if it applied to some undergrad too.... I'd wager that the French are likely an exception to this :D
 
There was a time when it was free in the UK so it bloody worked but the greedy war mongers would rather waste billions on unjustified wars that just creates more terrorism whilst raping ME natural resources to line their pockets than support our education system.
 
The UK has slashed university funding across the board. Personally I'd rather money was spent on ensuring we had the best education system possible, from start to finish rather than skimping on something that's so important.
 
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