Although there is no comprehensive market research data to draw from, the German higher education system seems to enjoy a solid reputation in the US.
At least in part due to the predominance of German multinational brands like Bosch and Mercedes-Benz, Germany is particularly well regarded for the natural sciences, technology, and engineering. Germany is also seen as a leader in fields related to sustainability, and news reports in the US frequently cover, for example, German advances in recycling, public trans-portation, and solar and wind energy.
There is growing awareness in the US about the Bologna Process and the new degree structures in Germany and across Europe. In particular, stu-dents are starting to become aware of new opportunities to study in Ger-many in English. DAAD New York, for example, has seen a dramatic rise in the percentage of graduate scholarship applicants applying to complete a master’s degree in Germany in the past few years.
US students often express surprise when they hear that there is little or no tuition in Germany for both domestic and international students—and that DAAD and Fulbright offer a comprehensive suite of scholarship programs for the best-qualified students. Particularly those students researching non-US-based master’s degrees will find this in marked contrast to programs in the UK, the most popular current destination.
Contrary to expectations, the lack of tuition may also be met with suspi-cion or concerns about the quality of a “free” education. It is often help-ful to stress that German taxpayers subsidize higher education for highly qualified international students because there is a widespread belief that internationalization is critical to the quality of the German higher educa-tion system.
99 N. Furman, D. Goldberg, and N. Lusin, Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education. Fall 2006 (Modern Language Association, 2007), http://www.mla.org/2006_flenrollmentsurvey.
100 Ibid., p. 2.
101 Ibid., p. 13.
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Study in Germany may be seen as a way to gain entry into the European job market or improve employment prospects in the US. One of the pri-mary drivers of international student enrollments in the US has been access to the US job market, and it would be difficult to imagine many students choosing to study in Germany without at least some thought of returning as an employee, PhD student, faculty member, or business partner.
One critical “selling point” for German higher education is the European lifestyle and Germany’s location at the center of Europe. Once prospective students or faculty feel that their requirements for cost, quality of educa-tion and facilities, and future employment prospects, have been met, the next questions will be ones of quality of life. Many German institutions underestimate how attractive the German lifestyle can be to US students and faculty. The Chronicle of Higher Education, the major higher educa-tion publicaeduca-tion in the US, recently launched a new seceduca-tion of their web-site called “Academic Destinations” to showcase the “soft factors” (e.g., culture, climate, economy) that influence the decision-making process of both prospective students and faculty members.
It may feel painfully cliché to show images of half-timber houses or castles, but primarily showcasing laboratories, modern architecture, or skylines may actually detract from Germany’s unique sense of place—and make it difficult to identify that a program is in Germany. Relatively “banal” activi-ties for Germans, such as riding a bike around town, shopping at a local market, attending excellent theater and opera performances, or hopping on a plane or train for a weekend in Spain or France, are what differenti-ates living in Germany from living in the US or elsewhere.
Additional market research is required to test these observations and to tailor them to particular target groups.
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The US and Germany have been such close partners in higher education for so long that there is a large and solid basis of collaboration to build upon.
At the same time, this sense of familiarity may lead to an underestimation of just how much the system have changed and how universities in both countries are impacted by a relatively new emphasis on global competition.
It seems clear that the rising cost of higher education in the US and an increasing awareness about new English-language opportunities abroad will begin to drive students to look outside the US for degree programs, particularly at the master’s level. On a radio program in April 2010, the British Council reported a 17% increase from 2009 to 2010 in applications from US students to UK institutions for undergraduate degree programs.
A representative from Canada said that the number of degree-seeking students from the US has grown in that country from 3,000 to 10,000 between 2000 and 2010.102
There are also new opportunities for German universities to take advan-tage of growing numbers of US students seeking experiences abroad as part of a degree program at home.
102 “Americans Getting Degrees Abroad,” Kojo Nnamdi Show, April 22, 2010, http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2010-04-22/americans-getting-degrees-abroad.
Source: Hub/DAAD
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