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EDUCATION

Big drop in students getting degrees in Germany ‘due to pandemic’

The number of German students getting degrees dropped by six percent last year after libraries, seminar rooms and laboratories shut their doors during lockdowns.

Big drop in students getting degrees in Germany ‘due to pandemic’
A graduation ceremony in Bonn. Photo: dpa | Julian Stratenschulte

A total of 477,000 degrees were handed out in 2020 by German universities and colleges, the Federal Statistical Office (destatis) said on Friday.

With one exception in 2018, the number of university degrees awarded each year has risen continuously since 2001.

“In the decline in the number of graduates in the examination year 2020, the consequences of the Covid pandemic are evident,” said Thomas Feuerstein from destatis. 

“Due to the pandemic, exams were postponed to subsequent semesters in some cases. Libraries, laboratories and workshops were temporarily closed or had limited use. This not only made it difficult for students to take exams, but also to prepare for them.”

Graduate numbers fell in all the German states. The sharpest decline was seen in Berlin, with a drop of twelve percent, and the smallest in North Rhine-Westphalia, at three percent. 

Half of all university degrees in 2020 were Bachelor’s degrees, and a quarter were Master’s degrees. According to the statistics, the greatest decline in graduation was seen in the humanities.

Increase in mental illness

Students in German have complained in recent months that they have been forgotten during the pandemic as public attention has focused on bringing school children back into the classroom.

Students have had to suffice with distance learning or hybrid models for 18 months with many universities still not offering full classes when the new university year starts this autumn.

Surveys suggest that mental illness has become more severe among students, with one study by the Studentenwerk reporting that 10 percent were experiencing some for of psychological stress. 

SEE ALSO: Munich and Berlin among the ‘most popular university cities in the world’

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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. 

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