All Universities In Germany Are Now Tuition-Free, Even For International Students
Because charging young people for education is 'socially unjust.'
By Sadho Ram — 02 Oct 2014, 02:55 PM — Updated about 10 years ago
In Germany, post-secondary education is now free after fees were overturned in one last state, Lower Saxony, starting from 1 October 2014
Germany may not be in the top 10 ranking of the just released Times Higher Education world university rankings, but insofar as students from other countries as concerned, German universities are number 1 if only because the country is 100 per cent tuition-free. This happened on Oct 1 when all universities in Lower Saxony declared their schools free of charge.
Lower Saxony is the final German state to scrap tuition fees, meaning that all German universities are free of charge for all students – and yes, that includes overseas students.
"Tuition fees are socially unjust," said Dorothee Stapelfeldt, President of the Hamburg Parliament, as quoted by The Times
They particularly discourage young people who do not have a traditional academic family background from taking up studies. It is a core task of politics to ensure that young women and men can study with a high quality standard free of charge in Germany," The Times quoted Dorothee Stapelfeldt, Hamburg senator for science.
The tuition-free policy, which started in 2006 after a constitutional court decided that moderate fees combined with loans did not violate the country's commitment to universal higher education, covers also foreign students enrolled in German universities
The German city state of Hamburg has abolished tuition fees at its universities, a pattern being repeated across Germany
Image via guim.co.ukGerman universities were allowed by law to start charging fees in 2006, when a constitutional court decided that moderate fees combined with loans did not violate the country’s commitment to universal higher education. Most schools only charged relatively low amounts of around €1,000 a year (£845) – but that didn't stop state governments from changing their mind after eight years.
According to Fischer, abolishing fees is a "catastrophe" as it allowed universities to "improve the teaching and infrastructure". But it's good news for university students who are about the start the new autumn term in Germany, free of charge.
"There is a tradition here that education is free from beginning to end, and that is very difficult to change," Hamburg University vice-president Dr Holger Fischer explained.
theguardian.com
However, while the news made German students as well as parents happy, some universities disagree with the policy
"It is a for the university ... We were obliged to spend the fees we received on investment in teaching, and it gave us the chance to improve the teaching and instruction," Hamburg University Vice President Dr Holger Fischer catastrophe was quoted as saying in 2011 by The Guardian. At that time, Hamburg just scrapped tuition fees and only Lower Saxony, Bavarias and Baden-Wuttemberg continued to collect tuition fees.
To make up for the loss in revenue, Fischer said then that it would cut spending in some areas and by budget regrouping. He warned, "The level of our teaching will have to decrease dramatically," since he doubted the measures would cover the losses.