With additional flexibility in admissions policies (“fast-track” programs, etc.) and new forms of doctoral programs in Germany, their attractiveness to potential doctoral candidates from the US is likely to grow. Doctoral studies are much shorter in Germany because they do not have the course-work component of the integral master’s degree in most US programs and they enjoy a good reputation in a number of important fields. For individu-als who are considering careers in Germany or Europe, it can make sense to build networks during the doctoral phase. Additionally, quality of life considerations will definitely be part of any decision-making process and potential candidates from abroad may appreciate many aspects of life in Germany that German doctoral candidates may take for granted such as great public transportation, a different approach to the work/life balance, access to the rest of Europe, the European “charm” of cafes, weekly mar-kets, etc.
The current market is still quite small as there are major hurdles with requir-ing a master’s degree for admission, lack of clarity and support through the application process, unclear funding structures (outside of the major schol-arship programs), as well as the relatively low number of students from the US who pursue doctoral education. In the US, the doctoral program is also used for networking and establishing connections that will help in the fu-ture job search. For a potential doctoral candidate who wants an academic career in the US, choosing to pursue doctoral studies in Germany may be 64
a difficult choice to make, although there are clearly many highly-qualified researchers from Germany working in the US.
8.3.1 Primary Challenge: Structural Differences
There are simply very few students in the US who have master’s degrees that would qualify them for entry into German doctoral programs because, as mentioned above, most students who are interested in a doctoral de-gree enter directly into a PhD program after their bachelor’s program.
Equally importantly, there are few universities in Germany where US stu-dents without prior knowledge of German can complete a qualifying mas-ter’s degree, as many of the English-language masmas-ter’s programs seem to be focused on the “nicht-konsekutive” subjects, which often do not lead to doctoral study.
A US student looking to Germany to complete a PhD in, for example, chemistry has a small handful of universities where they could also do their master’s in chemistry in English first. This fact should be seen as an opportunity for those universities that want to focus on attracting doctoral candidates in particular fields: if they can create English-language master’s programs, they will be able to recruit students who may initially want to do their PhD elsewhere in Germany (at an institution, for example, that does not offer master’s degrees in English—or any master’s degrees at all, as in the case of the non-university research institutions). Having students on campus for two years can give the university time to convince the best students to stay on for the PhD, and, at the very least, the students will remain part of the overall international network, regardless of where they complete their doctoral degree.
8.3.2 Interdisciplinary Fields
For fields that are more interdisciplinary or that could be a natural next step for some of the terminal master’s degrees in the US, a PhD in Germany could be a very attractive option. A student who completed a master’s in German studies or international relations, for example, might not be able to have this coursework counted if he or she decides to enter a PhD program in the US. Coming to Germany, on the other hand, would be an opportunity for this student to focus directly on research and to complete his or her PhD in much less time. The one caveat to this is that many of those students may not have completed a master’s thesis, which is often a requirement for entry into a German program.
It would be worthwhile to determine which master’s programs in the US might feed into particular PhD programs in Germany. Some universities may not even offer the option to continue with a PhD, so they might be happy to offer their students a structured option to do a master’s in the US
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and a PhD in Germany. Such a university might even wish to create a for-mal articulation agreement that would allow a certain number of the best students to qualify for entry into a German program. This type of model could help build institutional bonds and ensure a steady flow of new doc-toral candidates with a known background.
8.3.3 Fast-Track or Combined Doctoral Programs
Although fast-track programs are new and somewhat controversial in Ger-many, universities are increasingly offering ways for students to apply to a doctoral program with only a bachelor’s degree. Students are required to complete certain coursework, but less than a full master’s degree. This op-tion could be extremely attractive to US students interested in completing a PhD in Germany. Language may remain a hurdle as coursework require-ments are based on the individual and the courses needed may not be offered in English.
Programs that model the US system by essentially combinging the master’s and doctoral degree are another new development in Germany. Students are admitted to the PhD program after the bachelor’s degree, complete a certain amount of coursework and comprehensive exams to be awarded a master’s, and then proceed to the doctoral phase. This option is easy to understand for anyone considering programs in both the US and Germany, there is a clear sense of being part of a cohort of students moving through a degree program, and there are no linguistic barriers to entry. Just as in the US, admission to the actual research phase of the PhD program is always
“qualified”; a student has to do well enough in the initial phase to move on to the dissertation. This may allow this model to work within the con-fines of existing degree requirements in Germany, as it is more a question of how the degree is packaged than of the actual content.
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There is no doubt that interest in study abroad is growing fairly dramatically in the US from students, higher education institutions, and the US govern-ment. The number (see section 9.2) of students studying abroad have a clear upward trend and there is every indication that this will continue as students demand more options, institutions “push” students from all disci-plines toward new international experiences, and all levels of government begin to see study abroad as increasingly important for national economic growth and security.