Studying without an Abitur is reaching new highs in Germany: Currently, more than 70,000 people have taken the opportunity to qualify for a university degree through a professional path. This is shown by this year’s analysis of the CHE Center for University Development based on the latest available data from 2021. Since 2011, the The number of students without a high school diploma in Germany more than doubled from 32,200 to 70,338. The TH Lübeck belongs to Schleswig-Holstein to the top three universities with the most first-year students without a (technical) high school diploma.
“It is important to us to offer students who do not have a high school diploma access to Lübeck University of Applied Sciences. For example, we bring people with a master’s degree to the university, giving them access to academic qualifications. These students bring important insights from their job and everyday work to the university,” says the Vice President for Studies and Digitization, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen Abke.
“An estimated four out of five people in Germany could take up a course of study because of their school or professional qualifications – and more and more are also taking advantage of this option,” summarizes the managing director of the CHE Center for Higher Education Development, Frank Ziegele. “The fact that more and more people want to take the best out of vocational and academic education for their educational biography shows how important a good system of post-school education is that connects both worlds,” says the managing director of the CHE Center for Higher Education Development.
In a comparison of the types of university, the universities of applied sciences/universities of applied sciences are far ahead: around three quarters of all first-year students without a school-based university entrance qualification opt for a practical course of study offered there. In contrast, comparatively few people from this group enroll at universities (around 22 percent) and colleges of art and music (around 3 percent).
In a ten-year comparison, the universities of applied sciences/universities of applied sciences have outstripped the universities in this area: In 2011, half of all first-semester students without a school-based university entrance qualification decided to study at a university.
More information about the country report “Studying without Abitur 2021”: https://www.che.de/download/laenderberichte-studium-ohne-abitur-2021/