Breaking news! Germany canceled a tuition fee for foreigners and citizens of the country
For entrants who plan to study at universities in Germany is a piece of great news – from the next semester, higher education in public higher education institutions will be free of charge.
To make this decision two factors have become decisive:
- Germany has 16 federal lands that have their own officials and have the right to make decisions on issues of culture and education on their own.
- About 2.4 million young people study in German universities. The state allocates funds for their training in full.
Such a gift for students was prepared by officials. Now students of all 375 state universities in Germany are exempted from paying tuition fees. Only the remaining payment in private universities is unchanged, but they are only 5% in the country and the number of students is very small.
Abolition of tuition fees
Already from the new academic semester, all educational institutions in Germany will receive funds from the budget of their federal district. The financial allocation system has already been developed and all funds are distributed. The programs of additional financing of ministries of land have also been developed because the funds for education are never too much. The German government is considered to be the most generous among other European countries because it covers 80% of the financial needs of local universities. There is also active financial support from external sources.
The Germans took this news very positively. After all, if the educational system is state-owned, then the government should finance it. But there are critics who are concerned with how long the state will have enough finance to pay for education. Therefore, discussions and disputes over this issue are constantly being restored. After all, the restoration of the fee – bad only for students, but for the government and universities, it will be useful.
Today most of society agrees with the government, but everything can change. Advisory commissions and research centers do not stop searching for profitable solutions for all parties.
First attempts to cancel tuition fees
In the early ’80s of the last century, tuition fees at universities in West Germany amounted to an average of 140 German marks. Education was paid for everyone, but for students from poor families, there were exceptions.
Over the past 20 years, social democrats tried to reform their education so that all sections of the German population would have access to higher education institutions. Accordingly, material support programs have been developed for those who really need it. For the first time, tuition fees were canceled in 1976.
But after the conservatives came to power, the issue of tuition fees rose again. The Berlin Wall was destroyed and the country reunited. This factor also affected the issue of education, because there was no money for free study at that time in the state.
Reforms have helped
For over 30 years, supporters and opponents of free education have been looking for options that will satisfy both sides. Thus, for students who studied longer than others (that is, they did not fit into the generally accepted terms), partial payment was returned.
From 2002 to 2005, litigation continued, because conservatives demanded that the fees for higher education must be canceled as they considered illegal. That is why since 2005, tuition fees have been restored in seven lands of Federal Germany. But a year later, the German government canceled this ruling, as a new educational reform was introduced.
Despite the government’s decision, some lands reminded of its federatedness and refused to support reform. This led to the refusal of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research to take part in the joint funding of universities.
Such a decision made it possible to save money for the introduction of new programs, as well as some universities were given the opportunity to provide grants for training for capable students. But in the eastern lands, such a decision was not very happy, because there was not enough money in the budget that was aimed at financing higher education institutions.
Later, social democrats came to power, which had a partial abolition of payment for education.
Now payment for tuition in state universities of Germany has been canceled completely.
While everyone is happy and does not start new discussions between supporters and opponents of cancellation, you can take advantage of the moment, and get a high-quality education at the most prestigious universities in Germany for free. So do not waste time, and go on to earn your dreamed diploma in Germany.
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