Record student numbers at German universities

2.5 million is now the official number of students enrolled in German universities. This is according to German media zeit.de.

Measured by the German Federal Statistics Office, there were only 1.9 million students enrolled in 2001.

»This can be due to an increase in the number of students graduating from vocational high schools«, says Roderich Egele, president of the Federal Statistics Office.

Farewell to army training

The downside of the increase is the inability of the universities to provide a better academic environment for all the students, say critics.

Young German men used to have to do military service. This was suspended last year. January 2011 saw the last batch of recruits for this scheme.

The suspension of this law is cited as the major reason for increase in student enrollment since 2011.

Students can’t live on studying

The teacher student ratio in Germany has decreased from 1 in 23.6 to 1 to 24.5 in the last couple of years. The universities cite less funding as a reason for this.

Over the last decade, 50 per cent more staff have been employed by universities, but they can’t keep track, says German Students organisation (DSW). They want better teaching.

An affordable roof over their heads, a cafeteria and expert study advice are some of the things the DSW wants.

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