Opportunities : Germany gives you FREE EDUCATION
This statement makes absolutely no sense to me and why is a good question here. It's very skeptical, but after talking to a friend of mine who is currently enjoying the luxuries of free education in Germany and researching the topic myself, I am quite pleased to say that it is true first of all and secondly that, it is one of the most perfect opportunities for anyone looking to apply for university. So read on.
Almost anywhere in Europe and the world, universities charge tuition fees - at times only from foreigners who come to their country for their studies. Germany is one of the few countries in Europe where you can study completely for free, wherever you may be from in the world. This applies to almost all study programmes at public universities.
Here's the whole reason behind it;
Germans generally believe that education should not be treated as a commercial product, and that free access to higher education ensures economic growth and welfare for the greater population.
Also, Germany’s governments of recent years have understood the economic and social benefits of immigration and Germany wants to get the smartest minds to study in their country, and ideally to stay and work after graduation. That is why there are no general tuition fees for foreigners.
The fact that higher education at public universities is tuition-free is purely a political decision by the German government and it does not concern you or me, it's simply the way things work there. And thus it is simply their way of getting more people to study in Germany and we as people are allowed to take full advantage and use this amazing opportunity to continue our higher education in Germany, free of tuition, which still sounds insane but now you know why. There are only a very few exceptions where public universities can charge tuition fees and even then it is a really low amount.
International students are valuable to Germany just as Germany is valuable to international students and their careers.
And hopefully you're convinced this is a legitimate opportunity now.
One tiny inconvenience is that some universities require proficiency in the German language, but if you are enrolling in an International degree programme you apparently don't need to know German. Knowing the language is however helpful because people don't speak much English over there.
The application process:
Now that I've hopefully convinced you to not let this slide, Here's how my friend went about with his application. He was notified by one of his relatives about the interesting opportunities in Germany and he simply just browsed the websites of German universities and emailed like 4 or 5 of them, mentioning his qualifications and inquiring about the pathways he can take with his academic background.
List of universities in Germany
Then he was directed to the application pathway for German universities for international students which is a website called Uni assist. The application pathway is just a 6 step process which is convenient and they deal with applications from international student applicants for 180 German universities. Uni assist says;
"We evaluate your certificates and show you the way."
It is a simple process as I understand where you include your academic qualifications, work experience and volunteer work and uni assist grades you based on them and with that grade you can apply to German universities. My friend had done his A/Ls and applied to uni assist with a C for IT, S for mathematics and an S for physics along with all his other academic qualifications and he got graded a 2.9 where the highest score is a 4. And with that grade, he applied to German universities and was accepted by the Hamburg university of Applied sciences who were very friendly, he says. They also didn't ask him for proficiency in the German language, I'm guessing that's because it was an international degree programme he signed up for and Hamburg doesn't really care if you get lost in German woods and can't find your way home cuz you can't speak the language :>
There is also a scholarship service provided by the German academic exchange service for international students applying for German universities called DAAD. If you're applying definitely check this site out too.
My friends experience so far:
Mr Anonymous friend of mine is currently doing a degree in Information Engineering which is "a methodology for developing an integrated information system based on the sharing of common data, with emphasis on decision support needs as well as transaction-processing (TP) requirements" (whatever that means). Simply it is a way to unify and combine the different requirements that must be engineered in any complex system or application (I think).
I asked him if the free of tuition thing means cutbacks in resources and facilities but apparently its quite the opposite. And I do understand now because if Germany really wants is to make smart kids, for that they'd definitely provide the best of facilities for them.
His living situation sounds pretty sweet too because the university sets you up in a 6 person dorm if requested. Their dorm has 6 people from countries like Hungary, Spain and Ireland which I find really cool. Sources say that living in cities such as Hamburg, Munich or Frankfurt can be a little more expensive than other cities but overall it's definitely one of the cheapest options available I believe.
Career streams in Information engineering:
For anyone interested in the career streams by doing information engineering, here you go;
In automotive systems, electronic control units determine from output of sensors the current stability state of the car and derive counter-measures in critical situations.
User interfaces with touch panels, read user inputs and control machines in automation industry. Autonomous vehicles in automated warehouses make use of various sensor signals to find the right shelf.
Smart cameras check the quality of produced parts and goods, and wireless communication systems allow mobile devices to deliver location-based services.
Germany is well known for their engineering and IT side of things. In fact the top 4 sought after jobs in Germany in 2018 as said in Deutschland are Software developer and programmer, Electronics engineer, electrician, Healthcare worker and nurse and IT consultant or IT analyst. So for anyone looking in IT, engineering or even healthcare fields, you are bound to find something that suits you in a top German University. Even if not, 180 universities will definitely have something that suits your interest.
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