SHARE
COPY LINK

EDUCATION

Germany ‘only country left’ which holds to free higher education

A report on higher education in 13 countries published on Thursday found that Germany was the only one which still offers higher education without tuition fees to almost all students.

Germany ‘only country left’ which holds to free higher education
The Free University in Berlin. Photo: DPA

The study, conducted by a group of US researchers on behalf of the the Körber Institute, reported that in Germany “only a tiny number of private educational institutions demand tuition fees” from students.

“Germany is the only country in which policy is still based on providing tuition-free education to nearly all students,” it stated.

That was counter to a global boom in fee-paying private higher education institutions “above all in countries that haven’t succeeded in covering demand through state institutions.”

“Private providers fill the hole quickly, but they vary drastically in quality and usefulness.”

The study, lead by Philip Altbach a researcher at Boston College, looked at higher education in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Egypt, Ghana, Australia, China, India, Japan, Brazil, Chile and the US.

The report found though, that higher education is no longer the privilege of a social elite and that “in many countries over half of a year group went on to study,” including in Germany.

For members

EDUCATION

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

Children between ages 6-9 years should be allowed admittance to after-school recreation centers free of charge, according to a report submitted to Sweden’s Minister of Education Lotta Edholm (L).

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

“If this reform is implemented, after-school recreation centers will be accessible to the children who may have the greatest need for the activities,” said Kerstin Andersson, who was appointed to lead a government inquiry into expanding access to after-school recreation by the former Social Democrat government. 

More than half a million primary- and middle-school-aged children spend a large part of their school days and holidays in after-school centres.

But the right to after-school care is not freely available to all children. In most municipalities, it is conditional on the parent’s occupational status of working or studying. Thus, attendance varies and is significantly lower in areas where unemployment is high and family finances weak.

In this context, the previous government formally began to inquire into expanding rights to leisure. The report was recently handed over to Sweden’s education minister, Lotta Edholm, on Monday.

Andersson proposed that after-school activities should be made available free of charge to all children between the ages of six and nine in the same way that preschool has been for children between the ages of three and five. This would mean that children whose parents are unemployed, on parental leave or long-term sick leave will no longer be excluded. 

“The biggest benefit is that after-school recreation centres will be made available to all children,” Andersson said. “Today, participation is highest in areas with very good conditions, while it is lower in sparsely populated areas and in areas with socio-economic challenges.” 

Enforcing this proposal could cause a need for about 10,200 more places in after-school centre, would cost the state just over half a billion kronor a year, and would require more adults to work in after-school centres. 

Andersson recommends recruiting staff more broadly, and not insisting that so many staff are specialised after-school activities teachers, or fritidspedagod

“The Education Act states that qualified teachers are responsible for teaching, but that other staff may participate,” Andersson said. “This is sometimes interpreted as meaning that other staff may be used, but preferably not’. We propose that recognition be given to so-called ‘other staff’, and that they should be given a clear role in the work.”

She suggested that people who have studied in the “children’s teaching and recreational programmes” at gymnasium level,  people who have studied recreational training, and social educators might be used. 

“People trained to work with children can contribute with many different skills. Right now, it might be an uncertain work situation for many who work for a few months while the employer is looking for qualified teachers”, Andersson said. 

SHOW COMMENTS