In most universities, the following categories may study without paying: graduate students, students undergoing practical training, persons with young children, persons with disabilities, and students who, due to the specific nature of their field of study, are forced to study at two universities simultaneously. The latter include, for example, professional athletes and representatives of creative professions. Students on exchange programs are also exempt from fees.
Many universities, on their own initiative, are willing to teach gifted students for free. Each university determines its own “criteria for giftedness.” Some are willing to teach scholarship holders of individual academic and political foundations, such as DAAD, Fullbright, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
The foundations themselves do not include the tuition fee in their scholarships. The Friedrich Ebert Foundation reported that the Foreign Ministry prohibited allocating funds for this purpose. Scholarships for foreign students are financed by the Foreign Ministry, while the introduction of paid tuition is an initiative of individual state governments. Berlin does not want to assume financial responsibility for the decisions of local governments.
Therefore, the foundations have no choice but to join forces and negotiate separately with each university. Some universities in Baden-Württemberg turned out to be the most accommodating, exempting scholarship holders of all well-known foundations from payment. The University of Freiburg provides free tuition to students who have achieved a score of 130 or more on an international IQ test. Students must provide proof of their “intellectuality” every 18 months. Regular testing in Germany is conducted by the organization Mensa e.V.
In several universities in Bavaria, a refund of fees for the previous semester is provided if the student is studying “excellently” or actively participating in university projects. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the practice of exempting 10% of students who demonstrated the best results in the previous semester from payment has taken root.
The university may also forcibly refund tuition fees by decision of a special commission. After all, the official goal of the reform is to improve the quality of education, so students have the right to file a complaint if the university does not provide the necessary conditions. This right has already been used by two students of the Robert Schumann Music Institute in Düsseldorf. During the summer semester, the building of the percussion faculty was undergoing major renovations. The noise of construction work interfered with the future virtuosos’ rehearsals. The drummers filed a complaint against the university administration. The institute’s commission ruled not only to refund the plaintiffs’ fees for the last semester, but also allocated additional funds for the purchase of new musical instruments for the faculty.
Tatiana PETRENKO.
“Deutsche Welle”