All of a sudden, we Brits are taking an interest in
universities that are neither Russell Group nor red-brick, but positively Continental.
It’s something that would have been unthinkable 20 or 30 years ago, but
increasing numbers of young people – both undergraduates and postgraduates –
are now travelling for their higher education to mainland Europe.
Not only do easyJet-type air fares work out cheaper than UK
rail fares (London to Manchester is currently £296 return), so does the
education itself. Instead of paying £9,000 a year in fees to a second-rate
British college on the edge of a ring road, you attend a well-respected, centuries-old
academic institution in an attractive city for nothing.
And not only is the teaching free of charge, it’s often
conducted in the lingua franca of the modern world, i.e. English. Which is
something you might expect in Holland, but it’s now becoming common in a whole
range of European countries, including Germany.
Indeed, while their forebears might have visited that nation
in very different circumstances, young Brits (there were 2,087 in 2011) arrive
today in Berlin, Munich or Hamburg, carrying little more than their laptops.
Altogether, German universities offer 124 undergraduate English-language
courses to overseas students, in subjects from art to veterinary medicine, in
locations from Aachen to Zittau. In addition there are many more single-term (usually
winter), and one or two-year-long master’s degree courses.
The first stop for anyone contemplating Teutonic tutoring is
the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst,
or DAAD), which has been trying to recruit British students for the past 60
years with limited success, but has recently seen a surge of interest, not
unrelated to the UK fees rise.
That said, the colleges don’t just take anyone. “British
students who wish to enrol for a bachelor’s degree course in Germany have to
meet the entrance requirement, which is four A-levels including a modern
language,” says Dr Andreas Hoeschen, the DAAD’s director. “Most of the 16
states in Germany do not charge tuition fees, and of those that do, the upper
limit is usually around €650 (£532) per term. As for German language skills,
these are only expected if the language of instruction is German.”
And even if most course participants do happen to be German,
it’s often English that is used. “The team in which I worked was mainly composed
of German people,” says 21-year-old UK biology undergraduate Cora Xydas, of her
time at the Technical University of Munich (Technische Universität München).
“But the biological field requires perfect knowledge of English to be at the
cutting edge of innovations within the scientific field. And since some of us
did not have a high enough level to interact on technical issues in German, the
working language was English.
“I found German people to be extremely sociable and
welcoming and ready to do whatever is in their power to make the stay of
non-German-speaking students enjoyable. I was enrolled on the Research
Internships in Science and Engineering programme, which enables North American,
Canadian and British university students to carry out research with PhD
students at German universities, and we all left with enough German language
skills to be at ease in everyday life.”
As well as mentioning the friendliness of the locals, Brits
who have been to German universities all remark upon the energy with which
their fellow students approach their work. “I feel that Germany still has the
remnants of a Utopian approach to education,” says 23-year-old Annie
Rutherford, from Dumfries, who is studying for a two-year postgraduate degree
in comparative literature at the University of Göttingen. “There is an idea
that everyone should be able to study, from whatever background they come
from,” she says. “There is a sense of education for the sake of education,
rather than just a tick in a box which enables you to get a better paid job at
the end of it.”
No doubt about it, says Xydas, who felt she and her fellow
participants shared a deep-rooted commitment to their subject. “No lazy student
would take the bold initiative of going to an 'unknown’ country, so the mere application
and selection process acts as a filter to retain only the most engaged,
challenged and enthusiastic students,” she concludes. “I’ve taken back to
Britain so many technical skills for my research projects, so many
organisational skills for effective work in labs, and also an insight into the
field of cancer I was working on that was almost totally new to me at the time.
And I’ve broadened my network all over the world, by meeting people from all
five continents.”
This often happens over a litre or two of German beer, a key
ingredient in bringing together the different nationalities. “Actually, beer
here is cheaper than water, and food is less expensive than in the UK,” says
22-year-old Toby Lovett, from Louth, in Lincolnshire, who is studying for a
Master of Law degree at the Humboldt University in Berlin, alongside students
from seven European countries, as well as China, Japan and Korea.
“As for accommodation, you can get a reasonable-sized room
in a shared apartment in a good location for around €300 to €350 (£245 to £286)
per month, including bills, which is less than I was paying for my student digs
in Reading. You are also required to pay a semester fee, or Semesterbeitrag.
This is usually €200 to €300 (£164 to £245), which pays for the students’ union
and student services, as well as giving you discounted travel on public
transport in the city and the surrounding area.”
What about the fees? “Because of the specific nature of my
course, I was required to pay €1,600 (£1,300) for the whole year, but in
comparison with undertaking a law degree in England, that is relatively little.
And because I have a scholarship through the DAAD, I’m reimbursed a significant
proportion of that fee, anyway.”
Annie Rutherford also puts the tiny tuition fees near the
top of her reasons to be cheerful. She pays a €1,000 (£817) a year for her
postgraduate degree, as opposed to at least £6,000 in this country. Other
pluses cited by the students include flexibility in the range of classes they
can choose, plus the feeling that one is expanding not just one’s mind, but
one’s career prospects.
“The ability to speak another language, plus the
international perspective you acquire, is very appealing to any potential
employer,” says Lovett.
There’s always the possibility of the unexpected, as
encountered by 21-year-old Paul Kaufman during his time as an undergraduate at
the Rhine-Westphalia Technical Institute, in Aachen.
“The people are definitely
friendlier and more laid-back than they are in Britain,” he says. “The other big
difference is that, at the end of the lecture, the students don’t applaud, they
bang their knuckles on the desk.”
Source: 9 January 2013, The Telegraph by Christopher
Middleton
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