CHE study: Never before have so many people studied in Germany without a high school diploma

Students without Abitur are still in the minority (symbol image)

Photo:

Patrick Pleul/ dpa

At 66,000, the number of students without a high school diploma or university entrance qualification has reached a high in Germany.

Their share of the total student body in Germany is still very small at 2.2 percent.

This is shown by an evaluation by the Center for Higher Education Development (CHE) in Gütersloh.

According to this, the number of first semester students without Abitur has quadrupled in the past 20 years or so.

It now stands at 15,161.

The prerequisites for applying for a place at university without a general higher education entrance qualification or a technical college entrance qualification are generally completed vocational training and proof of professional experience.

The figures vary greatly from region to region.

In Thuringia, around every tenth student does not have a high school diploma.

According to the CHE, the main reason is that the international university has relocated its main location from North Rhine-Westphalia to Erfurt in Thuringia.

So far, Hamburg has been the front runner for freshmen without Abitur.

Here their share is currently 4.7 percent, in Bremen 3.7 percent.

“There used to be a strict separation between professional and academic education.

Today, both areas of post-school education are increasingly part of one and the same educational biography,” says CHE Managing Director Frank Ziegele.

This is shown by the constantly growing group of students who reach a German campus via the third educational option.

The chance of studying medicine without an Abitur has recently increased

Around nine out of ten of the professionally qualified students are enrolled in a bachelor's degree.

Only twelve percent of all students without a high school diploma complete a master's degree in Germany;

for students with Abitur it is 26 percent.

According to the study, the number of female students without a high school diploma is greater than that of males for the first time.

According to the CHE, this is also related to courses in the field of health and care.

Currently, one in five first-year students chooses a subject in the field of medicine and health science.

Since the reform of the allocation of places for medical studies, the access options for people without a high school diploma have improved.

According to the information, the number of students who qualified solely through their professional experience increased from 534 in 2014 to 1071 in 2020. When applying for a place to study in the field of human medicine or dentistry, the grade of the master craftsman or specialist examination replaces the Abitur grade .

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