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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/31/europa-german-applied-science-colleges
Though these specialised colleges have proved popular, trade unions say students emerge with specific industrial skills rather than general knowledge. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Germany's network of applied science colleges, known as Fachhochschulen, may be an idea whose time has come.
The School of Sustainable Development in Eberswalde, Brandenburg, shows why. With 2,000 students and just over 40 staff, it's the smallest such college in the region, but in some ways the most successful. The college is in the top group of universities securing external funding, recently hitting a new record of €3.5m (£2.8m), a quarter of their budget – and there are similarly successful examples all over Germany.
The principle is a practical education with links to industry. Preceded by organisations such as the national schools of engineering in the 70s and 80s, they were legally raised to the same "tertiary level" as the other universities. The Hochschulen were supposed to fulfil two goals: to accelerate technological progress and to give a wider number of school leavers an academic education.
There are now about 160 Fachhochschulen and about one-third of them are non-governmental. In a report two years ago, the Science Council, a political advisory body, recommended that the state should put more emphasis on the potential of Hochschulen, and said the colleges should co-operate more with universities. The latter, however, regard the small and flexible competition often with suspicion: they fear for their exclusive privilege to train graduate students.
Though these specialised colleges have proved popular, trade unions say students emerge with specific industrial skills rather than general knowledge. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Germany's network of applied science colleges, known as Fachhochschulen, may be an idea whose time has come.
The School of Sustainable Development in Eberswalde, Brandenburg, shows why. With 2,000 students and just over 40 staff, it's the smallest such college in the region, but in some ways the most successful. The college is in the top group of universities securing external funding, recently hitting a new record of €3.5m (£2.8m), a quarter of their budget – and there are similarly successful examples all over Germany.
The principle is a practical education with links to industry. Preceded by organisations such as the national schools of engineering in the 70s and 80s, they were legally raised to the same "tertiary level" as the other universities. The Hochschulen were supposed to fulfil two goals: to accelerate technological progress and to give a wider number of school leavers an academic education.
There are now about 160 Fachhochschulen and about one-third of them are non-governmental. In a report two years ago, the Science Council, a political advisory body, recommended that the state should put more emphasis on the potential of Hochschulen, and said the colleges should co-operate more with universities. The latter, however, regard the small and flexible competition often with suspicion: they fear for their exclusive privilege to train graduate students.
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