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German masters lead globalization of universities
The historic Bologna agreement of 1999 paved the way for radical reform of the European higher education system. Until recently almost unrecognized in Germany, masters degrees are rapidly catching on.
Thomas Graf of e.fellows.net
The masters degree is taking off in Germany. In the last four years, the number of programs has increased to 1173 from just 165. This is 19 percent of all programs at German universities and Fachhochschulen. More than 19000 students are currently enrolled in masters programs – and the flood of bachelors students is still to come. The next year will reveal how many of them will enter work life and how many will decide on a masters degree.
The masters degree in Germany is a real alternative to the traditional German degrees ‘Diplom’, ‘Magister’ and ‘Staatsexamen’ but everything started off pretty slowly. The University of Bochum was, in 1993, the first to offer bachelors and masters studies to find out whether the students welcome these international degrees. But not till five years later did the German policy of higher education introduce the legal framework and allow universities to offer bachelors and masters studies officially. Since then, studyspecific accreditation agencies examine those programs according to certain quality standards and award the seal of approval from the German Board of Accreditation. Therefore Germany was already on track when, in Bologna in 1999, 29 countries voted for a reformed European higher education system. Today bachelors and masters studies are an essential part of universities’ portfolios.
"In the last three years, the number of masters programmes has increased to 1173 from just 165."
Masters degrees now exist for all types of studies. In addition to the common international titles like ‘Masters of Laws’, ‘Masters of Science’, ‘Masters of Engineering’, ‘Masters of Business Administration’ or ‘Masters of Art’, German universities quite often award more detailed titles like ‘Masters of Laws and Finance’ or ‘Masters of Science in Information Systems’. The programs take one to two years and are either offered as a consecutive masters that follows a bachelors degree at the same university or as a stand alone masters programme.
What are the advantages for students studying for a masters? According to Kruno Hernaut, who has been responsible for many years for education policy within multinational electronics giant, Siemens, bachelors graduates with a masters degree that differs from their bachelors can react a lot more flexibly to the changing demands of the job market. "Multiple qualifications are the future: with a Bachelors of Engineering one can gain a professional engineering qualification and later on add required business knowledge with an MBA. In the past this hasn’t been that easy because of missing opportunities" said Mr. Hernaut. But the masters degrees also offer the possibility to deepen one’s knowledge about a specific subject. Research institutes and departments for product development in the industrial sector seek those specialists.
The attraction of Germany as a location to study the masters plays a critical role in the international context. Foreign students can now complete a bachelors degree in their home country and then come to Germany to study for a masters. Thus they gain intercultural competence – which, for international operating companies such as Siemens, is a qualification of increasing importance. “When they return to their home countries after finishing their degrees they take along the German culture and become the preferred contact person on site”, emphasizes Hernaut. The concept works out: more than 50% of masters students come from abroad. And some masters programs, such as “Computational Engineering” offered by the University of Bochum, are explicitly designed for international students.
But how well accepted is the masters degree within the German domestic economy, especially with HR managers? A study conducted by the German Institute of Business in Cologne revealed that in 1999 only four out of ten companies dared even to evaluate the international degrees. At that time only every tenth company would have favoured a Masters to a German ‘Diplom’. Today, things look different: Christiane Konegen-Grenier from the German Institute of Business says that “although no new empirical study has been conducted, the tendency of knowledge improvement is recognizable. Certainly the acceptance of the new masters and bachelors degrees increases with the size and international scope of companies”.
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