“Every tenth student in Germany is a foreigner,” said Federal Minister of Education Edelgard Bulmahn recently. It follows that, in terms of the popularity of higher education institutions, Germany has finally caught up with its main competitors — the USA and Great Britain, the minister emphasized.
Since the beginning of the century, the number of foreign students at German universities has grown by more than a third. At present, there are approximately 230,000 of them, whereas in the 1990s the number of students from abroad amounted to about 150,000. German universities have become popular with foreigners, among other things, because there is no tuition fee. That is why students from developing countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia come here.
According to Bulmahn, the situation in Germany's research sphere, particularly in higher education, appears quite cloudless. In reality, however, all the achievements in promoting the favorable image of German universities may in time turn to nothing. The reason is the tuition fee that is soon planned to be introduced at German universities and institutes. When foreign students have to pay at least €500 per semester for the right to be at a German university, their numbers may decline sharply.
However, if the reform, according to which a fee for higher education is to be charged, is actually implemented, not only foreigners but also Germans themselves will leave German universities. German students are anxiously following what decisions politicians make in this area. The first to volunteer to introduce tuition fees at universities were Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, and Hamburg. In the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, apparently, the new federal government, consisting mainly of representatives of the CDU and FDP, will oblige students, starting from the summer semester of 2006, to pay €500 per semester.
So, the introduction of fees for higher education in Germany has already been planned, and it is absolutely unclear whether any assistance will be given to young people from low-income families, to those who are unable to finance their studies on their own. Much is unclear to students: will those who currently receive a state loan scholarship, which must be repaid to the state several years after graduation, have to pay for their education? Will current students have the right to complete their studies free of charge, or will they also have to pay?
Student unions intend to organize a mass protest movement next semester. It may, at the very least, delay the introduction of tuition fees. There are already precedents for this — in Bavaria, for example, thanks to such a movement, the introduction of tuition fees was postponed for two years. There, both German and foreign young people can still continue to study at universities. For students from other German federal states, the struggle continues.