TUM to Ditch German-Language Master's Programs

The Technical University of Munich (TUM), known in German as the Technische Universität München, has announced this week that all of its German-language master’s programs are to be taught in English by 2020.

Currently ranked 53^rd in the world in the 2013/14 QS World University Rankings®, the Technical University of Munich is the second-highest ranked university in Germany. The school already teaches 30 of its 99 master’s programs in English and plans to switch the remaining German-language master’s programs to English within the next six years.

The reasoning behind this language shift comes in the most part from a recommendation made by the president of TUM, Wolfgang Herrmann, to the school’s board of trustees. Talking to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, Herrman explained the need for TUM students to be prepared for the English-speaking world of business: “English is the lingua franca in academia and of the economy.”

The aim, Herrman stated, was to send a “strong signal” to the world, allowing the Technical University of Munich to compete for even more of the brightest international master’s students.

TUM receives criticism for its plans

The plans are not without their critics, however. One such criticism comes from Johannes Singhammer, a German politician who wrote an incensed letter to TUM regarding the plans. “Abandoning German as an academic language poses the risk of economic disadvantages,” Singhammer wrote. “Businesses again and again point to the relationship between knowledge of the German language and the purchase of German products.”

Sebastian Biermann, chair of TUM’s student parliament, was also skeptical about the actions. “This came from the university’s management, not from students or the university’s department,” he told The Local. And although Biermann agrees that a move towards more English-taught master’s programs is something student representatives at the Technical University of Munich are open to, he added that “switching all master’s degrees to English is something we view rather critically.”

For some departments, such as computer science where much is already taught in English, the switch makes sense, according to Biermann. But for subjects such as constructional engineering, the change wouldn’t be the right course of action, as the textbooks and legal requirements are almost wholly in German. Biermann also shared his doubts about whether the required English language proficiency amongst academic and administrative faculty, as well as improved language support for students, could realistically be achieved by 2020.

An ongoing battle for the German language in academia

In his letter of critique, Singhammer added that the Technical University of Munich was hindering the promotion of the German language within academia, despite the nation’s parliament declaring that this was something it wanted to support as recently as last year.

TUM is not the only higher education institution pushing for a shift into English. Nationwide concerns regarding the declining importance of the German language in academia caused a number of scholars from as many as 60 universities across Germany to come together last month to debate the issue in Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Among the concerns discussed was the idea that professors were forced to “publish in English or perish in German”.