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BBC reports that Germany has abandoned tuition fees altogether for German and international students alike and more than 4,600 US students are fully enrolled at Germany universities, an increase of 20% over three years. "When I found out that just like Germans I'm studying for free, it was sort of mind blowing," says Katherine Burlingame who decided to get her Master's degree at a university in the East German town of Cottbus. "I realised how easy the admission process was and how there was no tuition fee. This was a wow moment for me." When Katherine came to Germany in 2012 she spoke two words of German: 'hallo' and 'danke'. She arrived in an East German town which had, since the 1950s, taught the majority of its residents Russian rather than English. "At first I was just doing hand gestures and a lot of people had compassion because they saw that I was trying and that I cared." She did not need German, however, in her Master's program, which was filled with students from 50 different countries but taught entirely in English. In fact, German universities have drastically increased all-English classes to more than 1,150 programs across many fields.
So how can Germany afford to educate foreign students for free? Think about it this way: it's a global game of collecting talent. All of these students are the trading cards, and the collectors are countries. If a country collects more talent, they'll have an influx of new ideas, new businesses and a better economy. For a society with a demographic problem - a growing retired population and fewer young people entering college and the workforce - qualified immigration is seen as a resolution to the problem as research shows that 50% of foreign students stay in Germany. "Keeping international students who have studied in the country is the ideal way of immigration," says Sebastian Fohrbeck."They have the needed certificates, they don't have a language problem at the end of their stay and they know the culture."
Original Submission
(Score: 4, Funny) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday June 10 2015, @07:25AM
When Katherine came to Germany in 2012 she [...] arrived in an East German town
That's a clever trick.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by pe1rxq on Wednesday June 10 2015, @08:07AM
East Germany only seized to exist as a sovereign state. Its teritories did not magically disappear and still exist in the eastern part of Germany....
'Former East German' would have been more correct though....
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 10 2015, @09:03AM
East Germany only seized to exist
Auch du Lieber! Du Anglandish is kaputt!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ThG on Wednesday June 10 2015, @10:04AM
Maybe on paper. We "wessis" still make all sorts of jokes about the "ossis" and that's not going to stop any time soon.
Many things are different over there, but at least it's still Germany. Unlike Bavaria.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Geotti on Wednesday June 10 2015, @09:45PM
Says the East German to the West German: "We are one nation!"
Comes the reply: "Us too."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 10 2015, @09:26AM
I didn't notice that the cardinal directions were abolished in Germany.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 10 2015, @09:43AM
only Ratzinger's
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 10 2015, @05:20PM
But he went south, not east.