What arguments can there be? First, notes Газета.Ru, it is one of the few major Western countries where higher education is still almost completely free. Apart from a semester fee for administrative expenses, which ranges from 60 to 140 euros depending on the university, you don't have to pay anything for the education itself.
Second, in Germany, compared with other Western countries, life is cheap. Various services usually cost more than here, but many food products and industrial goods cost the same or even less.
Third, Germany is not far. A plane ticket to Berlin (round trip) costs 180-240 euros depending on the airline, a one-way train ticket costs $90, and if you want to save money, you can get to Berlin on trains with transfers for $50.
Fourth, Germany is a relatively calm country - it has not fought wars for a long time and has no military and anti-terrorist hysteria.
And fifth, although fascism and World War II dealt a severe blow to German science and education, from which they have never recovered, Germany retains university traditions and interesting scientific schools.
Finally, Germany is our largest trading partner, and studying in the country is not only education in itself, but also getting to know people and culture, connections, contacts, i.e. invaluable experience for a future career.
So, if you are going to enter a German university, you need to meet several requirements:
l You must have a German language proficiency level of at least Mittelstufe I. This is a fairly low level, but you need to get a paper confirming that you have it. Our institutes and universities do not issue such a paper.
l We formally have 11-year school education. In Germany, it is actually 13 years at the gymnasium level. Therefore, a domestic school certificate is not recognized as equivalent to the German one. After finishing our school, you are required to study for two years at any domestic higher education institution. After that, you can submit documents to a German university. However, there is one big BUT!
Without a completed higher education, you can only apply for subjects you have already studied. And only with a diploma in hand do you get freedom of choice.
Note that some subjects that are studied in our institutes and universities are taught in Germany in educational institutions that are not higher education institutions.
l You need to find sources of funding for your studies. This topic splits into two independent ones: how to formally prove to the consulate that you have such sources, and how to actually finance your education. Both of these questions will be discussed below.
Go to the consulate and get application forms. Read them carefully - something will certainly become clearer to you. Make sure your foreign passport is valid for a fairly long time. If it expires soon, you may have problems getting a visa.
To receive a notification from a German university about the acceptance of documents, you need to send it your documents. Namely:
l a completed university application form;
l a translated and notarized document confirming that you have studied for at least two years at a domestic higher education institution (this can be your diploma if your education is complete; if not, a certificate from the dean's office will suffice);
l a certificate of German language proficiency at least at the Mittelstufe I level.
If you have already chosen a university, go to its homepage and find the phone number of the student secretariat. Call there and ask what documents they need. Clarify what must be submitted in original and what can be sent by fax. Usually everything except the application form can be sent by fax.
Where to get the application form? On the university's homepage. You can download, print, and fill it out. Then send it by mail to the student secretariat's address. Plan three to four weeks for the form to reach the university. If you don't have time but have money, express mail is at your service. In three days and for $30-40, it will deliver your correspondence to the address.
Doing everything on time is very important, because there are specific time frames for submitting documents. For example, for the winter semester, which starts in October, the application deadline is July 15. For the summer semester, which starts in April, it is January 15.
Be sure to pester the secretariat by phone and ask whether your documents have arrived, whether everything is in order, whether anything needs to be sent additionally, etc. - otherwise your case will get bogged down in a bureaucratic swamp. Remember that you and your documents are an extra burden on the secretariat; it has enough current work, and no one wants extra work. When the secretariat receives everything it needs, ask when you will definitely receive confirmation. Have them send it by fax. Germans tend to send everything by mail, because their mail is very fast and reliable. They usually don't know that a letter takes about a month to reach us. Do not give up on the bureaucrats until they give you everything you need. Call the same person constantly so that they already recognize you and are aware of your affairs.
The issue of financing your studies, as already noted, consists of two separate questions.
The first (formal) one is how to get the consulate to consider you financially solvent. The second is how you can actually support yourself. This assumes that you are a normal citizen and your father is not a millionaire and does not pay for your stay in Germany. From the formal side, everything looks as follows. You can be recognized as financially secure if:
1. A German citizen will provide financial surety for you and properly formalize this guarantee. Moreover, this citizen must have an income not below a certain level. This level depends on many factors and has no definite numerical expression. Whether this citizen can vouch for you is decided by officials in Germany on a case-by-case basis. For example, a pensioner receiving the average German pension (900 euros) will not be able to vouch for you. Clearly, this is a path for those who have relatives or very close friends in Germany.
2. You receive a scholarship to study abroad. Obtaining a scholarship as a student is unlikely, but it is worth trying. There are scholarships for doctoral students, i.e., those writing a candidate's dissertation (in Germany it is immediately called a doctoral dissertation). There are DAAD programs under which you may be sent to study abroad. However, they are short-term (3-12 months): you will be engaged in what is provided by the program, and then you have no need to read this article at all, since you will not encounter most of the issues raised here.
3. You have proven that you yourself are sufficiently financially secure. Financial security means the legally established norm of 600 euros per month. That is, at the consulate interview you must show that you have a lump sum for a year of study equal to 7,200 euros.
Be prepared for the consulate to ask you for a certificate from your place of work about the size of your salary. If you say at the interview that your parents will help you, then a certificate of their salary will be needed. It is impossible to say what amount should be indicated in these certificates. Probably, extremes are not needed - they arouse suspicion and unnecessary questions.
Suppose you managed to prove at the interview that you have money for studies. However, it is also necessary to actually support yourself during your studies. Experience shows that 450 euros per month is approximately the amount on which a student can live without luxury, but also without severe economy. Keep in mind that in Germany you will be able to work only within certain limits. And if you actually study, you will not be able to fully cover your expenses this way.
When you collect all the necessary documents and take them to the consulate, plan for another month of waiting, which officials need to decide your case. In a month you will receive a visa that will be called a "student candidate visa".
Come to Germany preferably about a month and a half before the start of the semester. Once at the university, inquire when the DSH exam (Deutsche Sprachprufung fur Hochschulzugang) will be held. It is usually administered a week before classes begin. You need to take part in this exam. Its result does not affect your enrollment in the university, but seriously affects your status: you will be enrolled either as a full-fledged student (if you pass the DSH) or sent to language courses for a semester at the university itself. Before the start of the next semester, you can try your luck again.
So, let's summarize some results: if you have the desire and certain knowledge of German, you can quite easily enter a German university.
In Germany, rumors have long circulated that education will become paid. Various payments are being introduced here and there, but this does not yet affect foreign students. Therefore, if you hesitate, it is better to hurry. Well, overall, studying in Germany remains a good alternative for those who want to gain experience of life in Europe and at the same time useful knowledge and skills in their chosen specialty.
And lastly, there are now quite a few intermediary firms (for some reason they usually call themselves "educational centers", etc.) that earn money by sending those who want to study abroad to that very abroad. Their services cost approximately - if we are talking about Germany - $2 thousand. But my experience clearly shows that this money can be saved if you go through the whole process yourself. By the way, it is not that difficult; the main thing is to start.