The 5 W’s of Studying in Germany

This is a classic trick for planning presentations, or essays, or just about anything that needs to be broken down into bite-sized information. So, what are the what, where, who, when and whys of studying in Germany ?

What?

Err, studying in Germany duh?

 

Where?

Higher education is equal in terms of quality across all of Germany. Therefore a business degree in Frankfurt am Main can be as good as the same degree in Cottbus. There are small variations granted; for example, ship building university courses is better in cities with access to water such as Rostock.

 

Who?

Actually everyone.

 

When?

Depends really. Most people immediately go to university as soon as they are done with high school. However, to study in Germany, or even to just get approval for a german Visa, one has to learn the language up to level A1 at least. This itself will take 250 hours according to the Goethe Institute (another major player in the journey to studying in Germany) This shall be explored in depth in the coming weeks.

 

Why?

Because of 2 main reasons.

One is that Germany has a very robust higher education system, especially in the field of engineering. So for courses that concerns cars, wind turbine, or just about anything with a bearing and can roll/turn, Germany is a good place to study it.

The second reason is because education is virtually free. German universities do not charge tuition fees as they are mainly funded by the government. There are caveats to this however.

• Every semester one has to pay certain amount of money to receive a semester ticket. This cost on average somewhere between 250 – 350 Euro depending on the university. These tickets allows you to purchase discounted food from the university’s canteen and acts as a pass to use the public transport(for free? Or what?). In the case of my university (Brandenburgersiches Technische Universitaet Cottbus-Senftenberg) the card allows me to gain access to 1.5 euro lunch menu (that is incredibly cheap by German standard) as well as taking trains or busses to anywhere in Berlin and the Brandenburg area.

 

Studying in Germany

Imagine a land where you can learn how to construct robots or learn how the human body works. Where you can explore the pristine natures; the Alps, the Black Forest, Lake Konstanz. Where the history, thousands of years old, can be seen littered in the architecture of cities. This is Germany. A land of ideas (according to their slogan) and for many years, it has been hiding one of the greatest secrets of all time: free university. Regardless whether one is German, european, or from any parts of the world, Germany offers university courses free of tuition fees. However, there are some things that one must know before being able to study in Germany. I will be posting a series of blogs focused on giving guides and tips to start studying in Germany.

-Widi