With more than 2,00,000 foreign nationals currently studying in German institutions of higher education, the country is the third largest host nation to foreign students world-wide. Every year, more than 1,000 Indian students leave for Germany for various post-graduate programmes. Till last year, there were 2100 Indians studying there - a rise of 300 per cent over the past five years.
The pedagogy
Those interested in studying in Germany can choose between universities and university-status institutions, such as the technical universities, or the Fachhochschule institutions, or the colleges of art, music and film. Earlier, the universities conferred a ‘Diplom’ - quite different from a diploma offered in India. Diploms were awarded after five years of university education, on the completion of a postgraduate degree. However, the newly introduced Bachelor and Masters degrees assure an international compatibility of academic achievements. Your decision on which higher educational institution is right for you depends largely on what your study objectives are. You must be quite clear in your mind about this before you select the institution most suitable to your needs.
Admission rules
German universities do not encourage international students to do undergraduate courses as most of the course programmes are offered in German – making communication a problem. Moreover, the requirement of these courses is a minimum 10+3 academic years. Nevertheless, Indian students are encouraged to apply for a Masters or research programme, for which scholarships or sponsorships are quite easily available. There are quite a few scholarships and fellowship schemes offered by DAAD and its partner organisations in India like UGC, CSIR, Department of Education, Government of India. These are, however, for advanced studies and research only, and require a minimum qualification of a Master's degree.