Dropout rates

German university students have been protesting for months, and a new study has found their complaints to be justified: Many of the new bachelor programs are asking students to do too much in too little time.

The study, released by the Higher Education Information System (HIS) in Hanover on Tuesday, looks at dropout rates at German colleges and universities along with students' explanations for stopping their education.

HIS researchers, including Dr. Ulrich Heublein, found that while dropout numbers had decreased for language and humanities programs, students in mathematics, science and engineering were dropping out in greater numbers in the new bachelor programs than they had in the traditional German education system.

"Issues of performance play a major role in the dropout numbers for the new degree programs," Heublein told Deutsche Welle. "More students are tripped up by their program's requirements as well as their inaccurate expectations of the program than before."

The HIS researchers asked 2,500 students who had ended their studies without earning a degree in the 2008 academic year what their reasons were for dropping out. Of those surveyed, 20 percent said they were unable to cope with the requirements of their program. Another 11 percent cited failed exams. The authors of the study combine these two groups to find that 31 percent of dropouts left the university because they were overwhelmed by the demands of their programs, an increase of 11 percent since the year 2000.

The second most common issue for students was financing their education: 19 percent of those questioned said they dropped out because of financial problems.

While currently about 20 percent of students who begin a program will fail to complete it, that number jumps to over 30 percent for engineering, chemistry, mathematics and physics.

German higher education in transition

About three quarters of German academic programs have made the switch from the German Diplom system, which took six years to earn and was roughly equivalent to a master's degree, to the bachelor and master system.

The change is part of a larger education reform taking place in Germany to meet the requirements of the Bologna process, an agreement signed by 46 European countries to integrate their education systems. Continental universities have had to replace their own degree systems with the bachelor's and master's degrees of the Anglo-Saxon world with the goal of increasing educational mobility across Europe and making European universities more competitive on the global stage. Another goal of the Bologna process, according to Matthias Jaroch, spokesman for the German Universities Association, is to reduce dropout numbers.

Jaroch told Deutsche Welle that the German Ministry of Education has provided strict guidelines for the implementation of the reforms, stating that the new bachelor programs should only take six semesters or roughly three years and that, at the end of their studies, bachelor students should be ready for employment.

Jaroch said that the new study shows that six semesters may be too little time for some programs.

Different results for different programs

But the switch to the bachelor system has had a very different effect on the language and humanities programs. In these programs the dropout rates have decreased. According to the study's author Heublein, this is because the bachelor program has solved the "old lack-of-orientation problem."

"Lots of students failed before because they didn't know when or where or how they needed to be in their studies. Now the programs have been given more structure and shortened and that's had a positive effect on dropout rates," Heublein said.

The issue with the science and engineering programs was that now students had to pass very difficult exams after the first semester, Heublein said, not allowing them time to make up for holes in their knowledge. These exams would serve better as evaluation tools to see where students need to improve, Heublein said, and shouldn't have the same weight as the exams they take at the end of their programs.

Because students are experiencing different difficulties in different types of programs, Heublein said he thinks any attempt to bring down the dropout rates must be specific to the field of study.

Reforming the reforms

Responding to the new study, the Deputy Education Minister, Helge Braun, released a statement on his website calling on universities to improve their bachelor programs.

"Simply moving the content of the old Diplom degree programs without changes into the shorter bachelor programs won't get us anywhere," Braun said. "The universities must adjust the programs accordingly so that the Bologna process works. If corrections are necessary, then they should be carried out."

Braun and Jaroch agree that part of the solution is making sure students are better informed about the requirements of the programs they're beginning and have taken the necessary preparatory classes in high school. And HIS study author Heublein said more attention needs to be paid to students in the first couple of semesters of their programs. They need more counselling from their professors and more help with their work, he said.

But perhaps a more dramatic correction is in order, at least according to Jaroch.

"The question is whether or not it's possible to impart the necessary knowledge of scientific topics in a six semester program," Jaroch said. For some programs, "you have to consider making the bachelor programs last seven or eight semesters."

What's needed, Jaroch said, is a reform of the reforms.

Author: Holly Fox
Editor: Michael Lawton