Bachelor’s and Master’s Programs Once a Rarity Now Common in Germany

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It happened to Agni Skasidas time and again: Friends and family would give her a puzzled look and ask, “Bachelor’s? What kind of a degree is that?” “It did get annoying at times, having to explain my course of study,” the 26-year-old Dortmund (North Rhine-Westphalia) native says, “but I am still glad I studied this way.” In 1999, Skasidas graduated with a BA in English and American literature and law from a German university — something almost unheard of at the time.

But, as Die Zeit newspaper reports, what was a rarity just a few years ago is now common at German institutions of higher education. Changes made in 1998 to the federal legal framework for detailed legislation governing institutions of higher education (Hochschulrahmengesetz) allowed the bachelor’s and master’s to join the more traditional German degrees, the Magister and the Diplom. Since that time, more than 1,000 new degree programs have been created throughout Germany, and these now represent more than 10% of all courses of study.

Degrees of Change
In Germany, unlike most European countries that have recently undertaken higher-education reforms, the decision to adopt the new bachelor’s and master’s program lies with the schools themselves, often with individual departments. Many institutions of higher education in Germany, especially Fachhochschulen (universities of applied sciences), are taking advantage of the opportunities the revised law offers: They are developing entirely new courses of study intended to bring German higher education more closely in line with international standards, increase student mobility, improve the international competitiveness of German graduates and the attractiveness of their programs, especially to foreign students. They are modularizing lectures and integrating internships, computer courses and language programs into the curriculums – features that have become standard at U.S. universities, but are revolutionizing certain segments of German higher education.

All this brings about another major departure from tradition: German students typically take four to six years to complete their job-qualifying degrees. With the bachelor’s program, students can accomplish this in just three to four years instead. As in the U.S. and U.K., students who wish to pursue further education in a chosen field can then opt for two additional years of master’s level study. The advantages, educators and employers say, are shorter periods of study, fewer drop-outs, more international mobility for students and stronger career orientation.

Still in the Pioneer Phase
But even with the growing popularity of the new programs, the bachelor’s-master’s offerings remain in a “pioneer phase,” according to a new German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) study. “Despite buoyant demand and positive prognoses, only a small number of students are able to take advantage of the programs,” the DAAD found, and only a minority of German schools have entirely replaced the traditional system with the new program. In the winter semester 2000/2001, only 19,000 students, just over 1% of all students enrolled at institutions of higher education in Germany, were working toward a bachelor’s or master’s degree. Although this number is slowly climbing, many college-track high school graduates (Abiturienten) still know too little about this option, or the school-leaving exams needed to the enter the program don’t yet exist. But the institutions of higher education themselves may also be to blame, contends Johanna Witte of the Center for Development of Institutions of Education (CHE). Some, she says, are simply repacking their traditional courses of study as condensed versions of the old offerings.

At most schools, the new courses of study are being offered parallel to the traditional degree program, which is straining financial and personnel resources. But most are sticking with this cost-intensive double offering because it is hard for many, especially the technical universities, to scrap the standard diplomas. And there are still some students yet to be won over, those who dismiss the bachelor’s and master’s offerings as a sort of second-class midterm qualification. Moreover, schools can charge higher tuition for those who opt for the master’s without taking a bachelor’s degree first, and government financial aid (BAfög) is not available to students who choose this option.

Ruhr University Adopts Sweeping Changes
Ruhr University in Bochum (North Rhine-Westphalia), has been offering the bachelor’s and master’s program for nearly a decade. It has now eliminated the traditional diploma programs for all liberal arts and nearly all natural science subjects. Some 1,400 students have opted for Bochum’s program, and 340 have already taken their exams. In the past, as many as four in five students discontinued their studies without earning a degree; now that number is only one in three. “We are reaching those who earlier would have given up,” says Mathias Grunert of Ruhr University. The reason for this is not only that students can complete their academic studies faster, but also that the new programs are more structured, offering more support and counseling for students as well as more frequent exams and additional credentials.

Among those additional qualifications are language and computer courses – a big advantage on the highly competitive German, and international, job markets. School program directors say Bochum bachelor’s degree holders are being hired for the same fields, at the same income levels as their traditional degree counterparts. They also start earning income – and contributing to pension funds – earlier because they enter the job market earlier.

Agni Skasidas, for one, had no difficulty finding a job. She was hired straight out of school by German software giant SAP, at the unusually early age of 24. She believes her degree might have been a problem for a mid-sized German firm, but not at a global player like SAP. In her position at the company’s human resources department, she is in charge of hiring recent graduates. It doesn’t matter to her whether the applicant has a bachelor’s, master’s or traditional diploma – for her the decisive factors are experience, additional credentials and age. “And for all of these, bachelor’s degree holders have an edge,” she notes.

Employers Will Be Decisive Factor in Success Changes
Even though globally active companies like SAP and Siemens say they welcome bachelor’s and master’s graduates, one recent study showed that many German companies remain unfamiliar with the new degrees or don’t feel sufficiently informed to judge the quality of graduates. And most experts agree: the success or failure of the two-tiered program depends upon many factors, most important among them the stance German employers adopt toward graduates of such programs – an area in which the state, DAAD believes, can take a leading role by encouraging a positive response to these internationally recognized degree holders.

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