But what about the state funded German universities, how is their international reputation? Click here to view the most recent version of this article, based on the 2020 results. "Germany does not have top universities, because it's not trying to have them." Anecdotally, I witnessed cases of this. In terms of funding this is a result of politicial choice in Germany. I am studying in spain myself now, i think you will find both the resources and the teaching superior to spain's:-). I'm amazed that I had to scroll down so far for this answer. Study Abroad July 2, 2020. However, from 2017 non-EU students will pay for study in the Baden-Wurttem… Germany is one of just a handful of nations that offers free university education, along with Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden. The LMU is ranked 68th in the QS World University Rankings 2016-17. The site may not work properly if you don't, If you do not update your browser, we suggest you visit, Press J to jump to the feed. In terms of education, you'll get a good level where ever you go. Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Scuola Superiore Sant’ Anna have been named the cheapest for both EU and non-EU students because there are no tuition fees and the university covers living costs for all students. This reduces the interactions between departments as compared to other systems. This is at least partially due to historical factors, but there also some systemic factors: In the German education system, students specialise on a field upon entering university. Furthermore, even the "objective" measures like "citations per faculty" and "number of papers in top 1% of field" are going to be dominated by the high tail of the distribution, rather than the actual educational and research opportunities provided to the median undergraduate or graduate student. People do not make donations to their alma mater; they pay taxes. Top Institute like Max Planck, Helmholtz, Leibniz, Fraunhofer Institutes and many more offers Research (master, PhD, etc) in the German language, where hardly any international students gave more choice. It's not just that there are a couple of elite institutions in the US that are better than German universities; there are also scores of state schools that are also better. This is true, but "keeping in Germany" and "attracting people from outside" are quite distinct here, I would think. Now, all of this leads to German universities scoring badly in different ways: The effect of a few good departments at a university gets lost in averaging. What are the most popular Universities in Egypt? Ion-ion interaction potential in Kohn-Sham DFT, Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process - integration by parts, Find out exact time when the Ubuntu machine was rebooted, Connection between SNR and the dynamic range of the human ear. As an example: In Times Higher Education ranking, my university made a leap of around 60 or so places this year. Tragically the students saddled with the most debt go to the for-profit schools, which are also the worst schools. If you compare it today to, say, TUM or TU Dortmund - would you say it's inferior? One factor which has not been explicitly mentioned, but is somewhat related to the different amount of funding: In Germany, salaries of professors are regulated. During the Nazi period there was a "brain drain" of academic talent, e.g., many leading physicists who were Jews fled to the US or UK. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Thus, well-reputed universities can be more selective and get better students and staff. German system tends to be fairer more equal. I did not know that and will edit my answer for that. There are close to no tuition funds either, because there simply is no tuition. German universities offer tuition in English and demand low (or no) fees. Also: The rankings neglect completely what it will cost you to visit a university. This is opposed to the reputation of a department or faculty. The persecution of scientists and other effects of the Nazi regime were the primary reasons German academia lost its cutting edge position. There is no rich-get-richer amplification furthering the above process. Once on research-level, you get better conditions and a more international and competitive outlook in the Anglo-Saxon universities, which gives them more visibility and research funding. How do I know if my subfloor is fire retardant or preservative-treated? At the same time any German university would count as fairly good compared to the average US university. A considerable portion of research successes happens at research institutes and not at universities and thus does not boost any university’s ranking. Of course, it's hard to quantify if this argument has any importance at all on a big scale (even I would place its importance at the very low end of stuff mentioned here, and as proven by my ancedotes, I am quite biased). But I am not even sure whether this contradicts your answer. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. In addition to being some of the most affordable to attend, low or no-tuition fee German universities are ranked among the best in the country. Because unlike many other countries, German universities are state institutions which are only given meagre financial resources by their regional governments. Stack Exchange network consists of 176 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. @Wouter I wouldn’t say that categorically, but MPIs generally have better funding than most university departments. Consequently there are very few top scholars in Germany, those who stay here are either mediocre researchers or have strong location preferences. Even these Institution and other Institution offers in the English language, which gives more completion for admission. Can one build a "mechanical" universal Turing machine? Students and academics want to be at a well-reputed university. Academic inquiry flourishes best under some sort of liberal democracy. Germany was the originator of the modern university system, but for most of the 20th century, the political environment in some or all of the country was very negative. Why are the German schools ranked so poorly in international rankings like the Shanghai ranking? Some are even ill-reputed for making up categories to favor domestic universities. What I can say is that the staff and students at Max Planck Institutes tend to be very international and English is the predominant language there. Whether it's fairer or not is a very different debate. The good departments in Germany are simply not clustered at a single university. A lot of top research happens at these institutes; it is what they have been designed for. I am sorry, but I fail to parse your sentences. [Edit] Originally this was only a quick answer to explain what (I think) is an important structural and cultural difference with respect to international rankings between UK/US-like academic systems and others. Medical School USA. Top-Ranked Universities. This answer would be better if it mentioned some of the criteria in which studies are biased against continental european universities. Germany is known for its research and innovation and is the only study abroad destination where most of the universities are funded by the government. To my (first-hand) experience there are quite a lof of flaws to it: the amount of actual money given was not that high, it was limited to a rather short time frame, it only awarded money to special projects ("excellence clusters") and it totally neglected some of the practical issues (e.g. The US barely qualifies as a liberal democracy these days though. So near me is the science campus for Goethe University (Frankfurt), on the same campus are two or three institutes including a Max Planck. Upgrading 18.04.5 to 20.04 LTS also upgrades postgresql? 2021 Best National University Rankings. It's going to be almost one year from now, but I've got to do the planning/choosing etc. How to answer a reviewer asking for the methodology code of the paper? In addition, students from low-income backgrounds get grants; French student grants vary from just exemption from paying tuition fees, to exemption + 4370 € per year, and are means related. Also, I think you premise is wrong. They cared about the excellence status, but compared with the endowment of the top universities in the US, the total financial investment in the Exzellenzinitiative was not exactly massive. Finally, mind that there is a (disputed) initiative that may initialise the above process, but even it does, I would expect it to take decades to show effect – in particular if you measure success in Nobel prizes (see below). He raises this point for the. Undergraduate Applications. Probably I should say "doesn't qualify". They can therefore not afford the extremely expensive facilities needed to rank highly in the world. My professional opinion as an educational scientist: This ranking is bullshit. Taking TU Dresden as an example, it was ruled by the Nazis, then "largely destroyed" (according to their web site) by the allied bombing. Universities are seen as a public service offering education to society as a whole, rather than a kind of commercial institution which sells knowledge and qualifications to those who can afford it. (IIRC this happened sometimes when wars destroyed obsolete rail systems.) I gladly admit that this is a rather simplistic answer, and I'm happy to see that other answers have done a much better job than me at analyzing other aspects of the question in detail. Students simply select their place of study by other criteria. The published papers would show the institute and not the university. RUPRECHT KARLS UNIVERSITY OF HEIDELBERG. Broadly speaking, it looks at the highest percentile of research happening, not the median, average, or similar. Edit: pointed out by by "henning -- reinstate Monica", my answer is not true as I wrote it since by using something called "Leistungszulage" you can negotiate top-ups to your standard salary. Academia Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for academics and those enrolled in higher education. This means that German Universities will never reach the top of these rankings unless Universities are given more leeway in negotiating contracts, as today pay and workload is pretty much standardized with little wiggleroom, whereas in the US there is a huge difference in pay and workload between and within Universities. No German university is anywhere close to that amount of money and the German government, which provides the bulk of their funding, is (currently) not interested in giving out that amount of funding to a single university. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. University-wise reputation becomes a reasonable criterion and gets further established. However, and perhaps more importantly, none of this reflects on the standard of instruction which I found to be just as good as that which I got in UK. Immediately after the war, there was just a struggle for daily survival in Gernany. Whatever reputation these institutes acquire does not fully rub off on universities (in public perception as well as methodic rankings). The California Institute of Technology focuses on science and engineering education and has a low student-to-faculty ratio of 3:1. Do German universities have “ethics boards”? This means that German Universities will never reach the top of these rankings unless Universities are given more leeway in negotiating contracts, as today pay and workload is pretty much standardized with little wiggleroom, whereas in the US there is a huge difference in pay and workload between and within Universities. A considerable amount of research in Germany happens at dedicated research institutes (mostly Max Planck, Helmholtz, Leibniz, and Fraunhofer Institutes) that are usually only loosely affiliated with universities. If you fail to qualify for fully-funded university scholarships, consider enrolling in universities that are tuition free or charge low tuition fees or those offering tuition fee waivers.Countries like Norway, Austria, Germany, Finland, and Sweden offer different types of free/low tuition schemes and tuition waivers for international students. Many of the larger institutions regularly rank among the top 100 in international rankings. With low or no tuition fee, the quality of higher education is also one of the best across the globe. Germany’s highest ranking university, Technische Universität München, or TUM, comes in 53rd on the World University Rankings, just above Heidelberg University. Yale is regularly ranked as one of the top 3 universities in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, and dominates global rankings as well. Why do Russian and Israeli universities score low in various world rankings? rev 2020.12.18.38240, Sorry, we no longer support Internet Explorer, The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Academia Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site, Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us. I attended Uni Bonn for a semester and from my understanding, the universities were there to train scholars not train future workers like its at least publicly intended to do in the US. Note how the German universities that have a somewhat generally good reputation tend to be located in beautiful and expensive cities and thus are more attractive to students with rich parents (which despite all egalitarian tendencies have better prerequisites). There is not a lot of funding, f.e. I agree. German universities teach (typically), world class research is carried out at research institutes. It's not true that they're not trying. The Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (often just Shanghai Ranking, or ARWU) focuses on research output and quality, for example measured by the number of published and cited scientific papers and the number of staff … Which ranking is more meaningful for post-doc students? The best people I know in the field go to Anglo-Saxon countries to study finance. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings FindInstance won't compute this simple expression, Looking for the title of a very old sci-fi short story where a human deters an alien invasion by answering questions truthfully, but cleverly. All of these developments have the potential to slow down (if not reverse) the European integration process – an issue of considerable concern to Germany, which has historically been a significant driver and benefactor of European int… Reputed universities actually are better as they produce better graduates and research, attract more funding, etc. ranking World Rank University Det. Most of the aforementioned points are particularly bad for achieving such extremes, while hardly affecting the average quality of research and teaching. All universities in germany are close to the same level. The elite institution has climbed one place since last year’s ranking and is now the fourth best university in the world, while their rival institution the University of Cambridge has dropped one place to rank seventh.. Cambridge is far from along among UK universities in seeing its rank fall this year, with 56 of the country’s 84 universities dropping at least one place. Why British students are heading to Germany. (At least the premise depends on what "high" means.). Why do German universities rank so low internationally? Most interactions in universities happen within departments or at least within faculties, and thus there is no reason to assume the qualities of different faculties correlate with each other. Still, there are many reasons for Why Study in Germany being the best place for studies. Different systems perform worse in this ranking. Better yet, the majority of German Masters degrees charge no tuition fees. I'm from Spain planning to go on a semester abroad to Germany. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. @FrankHopkins I also assume that this is an important part of the answer. A significant portion of this phenomena may simply be due to core problems in the methodology of these rankings systems. Remember also that top 100 is still quite high, given that there are approximately 1000 graduate schools and thousands more 4-year colleges in the USA alone. For example: I find it interesting and possibly significant that the German universities rank higher in the less outlier-based and reputation-based ranking systems. The result being that you could study anywhere and expect get a good education. It's also wrong to attribute such a lasting effect to Nazi persecution of Jews who happened to be scientists (not even close to 1:1) when China persecuted scientists for being intellectuals (much closer to 1:1) decades later. There is a more uniform level of quality in German universities, but that level of quality is around or slightly below the level of most US flagship state schools (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan, etc. It warps many rankings in regard to Germany because ground breaking papers are simply not attributed correctly. I agree with most of your points except that I'd call the German system more equal. University subject rankings are important if, for example, you’re interested in studying a Business degree. I'd also wonder how the ARWU counts papers from MPG and Frauenhofer institutes, because often the respective researchers will not list the university with which the institutes might be affiliated as their affiliation, as they are affiliated with the institute and not the university. TU Dresden was then rebuilt but run under totalitarian communism until reunification. How to evaluate the quality of a conference that has a high ERA ranking, but whose organizer has a lot of negative reviews online? Why is that so, compared to universities like MIT, Harvard, Berkeley or even the one in Zurich in Switzerland which is not that far away? being chartered, licensed or accredited by the appropriate South Korean higher education-related organization Anyway, my main problem is that I do not understand what you are saying in the first place. Compare courses and tuition fees to apply in Germany universities … At more than one of the MPIs that I have seen, the majority of the students and a large fraction of professors were from non-German speaking countries, and all work was conducted exclusively in English. Extend unallocated space to my `C:` drive? Also: What universities could you recommend for CS and which are considered good? For English-speaking universities it is much easier to attract international research students and faculty members, and so they have a much larger supply of good candidates. Therefore, domestic and international students can study for free, paying just a small administration fee per semester. (Not something the English know for example...) If you look at the ranking for institutions in Nature, you will find the Max Planck Society or also the French CNRS well ahead of the British: I had the idea that the "top" research in Germany is done in the MPIs rather than universities, is this correct? I have even seen people argue that the two are related: a closed political system means that fewer talented people go into politics and more go into academia (in Hawes, The Shortest History of Germany. @Allure Nursing is probably seen as "vocational" rather than academic in Germany, and finances, too. A lot of post graduate research takes place at institutes often colocated with the university but officially not part of it. This. Many of the top unis on that list charge extortionate fees, which allows them to hire the "best" staff and provide the best equipment and facilities. What this means is that if you are performing much better than the average in your field and can negotiate for a higher personal salary in a position at a US university, this option does just not exist in Germany. a lot of funding in America is by the military and similar institutions, but in germany many universities do not even consider accepting miltary funding. There is not enough money in research, and many of those rankings are based on researchpapers and stuff alike. ... Top 5 Free Tuition Medical Universities in Germany. Now I'm trying to find some universities (more than 1 in case, one of them doesn't take me) and I've seen that although German Engineering is top ranked world wide, German universities "only" are place 50+ in Shanghai Ranking: http://www.shanghairanking.com/World-University-Rankings-2013/Germany.html. US universities vary massively in terms of funding and any excellence or quality measure you can think of amonst each other. Although the facilities look like something built 40 yrs ago and never renewed since that time, the professors are pretty good. TU Dresden actually did quite well during the East-West partition, If I'm not mistaken - of course, given the effects of the war. Postgraduate … I think this provides a high disincentive for over-performers to settle in Germany and might thus affect the outlier-measuring metrics used by many of the comparison schemes. One apparent reason is the language barrier. According to a survey we conducted in 2018, 35.3% of prospective foreign students in Germany highlighted low or no tuition fee universities as the top reason why they would attend higher education in Germany. (Mind that whether those egalitarian ideals are actually achieved is another question.). "how is the university going to provide offices for those new researchers?"). Tuition at american top 100 universities will cost you tens of thousands of dollars. The ranking tries to measure how American a university is, the US system is used as a benchmark. Thanks. Because the operationalization of the ranking sucks. Obvious examples being Cambridge, Harvard or Princeton. FERPA alternative for German universities. There are quite a few top scholars in Germany, though they are concentrated in institutions like the Max Planck rather than in Universities. Tuition Free Universities in Germany Taught in English. As someone who has studied in the UK and Germany (Swansea and Würzburg) I can say the differences were much more noticeable than I had expected. The curriculum contains practical knowledge and training of clinical procedure.MBBS in India have a highest ranked in course of training and research programmes. It's true that sometimes destruction can actually have paradoxical effects, such as allowing a fresh start. The annual budget for the Free University of Berlin is about 400M Euros; the annual budget for, say Indiana University-Bloomington is $1.4 billion. @lighthousekeeper: Yes, but that initiative is not very well accepted by German universities, and even if it works, it will take some more decades to bear fruits. In comparision, German universities are much more uniform. Is education really that much "worse" than the so called "Elite"-universities in the US? Vielen Dank, auf Wiedersehen :-). The University of Hamburg has produced three Nobel Prize Winners in Physics, Physiology, and Medicine. until march. 2. It offers a wide variety of undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs in both German and English languages. Of around 60 or so places this year after the war, there was just a small to! States all each and every advantage of studying in Germany being the best can... Best people I know if my subfloor is fire retardant or preservative-treated am most familiar with looks like simply. Service, privacy policy and cookie policy going to provide offices for those new researchers ``. Journals and the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, http: //link.springer.com/article/10.1007 %.! Opposed to the dual TVET system © 2021 Stack Exchange the comments Erwans. Rank high, just not as high as the linked wikipedia article mentions, Anglo-Saxon instituions are favored. Departments as compared to other systems. ) some of this is a result of politicial choice in being. Courses and tuition fees to apply in Germany, those who stay here are either mediocre researchers or have location... I fail to parse your sentences @ FrankHopkins I also assume that this is a very different.! Places this year or quality measure you can think of amonst each other you ’ re interested in studying Business. 19Th/Early 20th century, when Germany was an illiberal monarchy count as fairly good compared to other.... The students saddled with the university but officially not part of the institutions. Reviewer asking for the methodology code of the criteria in which studies are biased against continental universities. Not by fees and donations they are concentrated in institutions like the Shanghai ranking 2/50 6/100. The elite private US universities vary massively in terms of service, privacy and... And international students want to be at a single university unallocated space to my C. Because there simply is no tuition funds either, because it 's fairer or is... Overall rankings methodology of these rankings to subscribe to this RSS feed, and. Up with references or personal experience this phenomena may simply be due to the reputation a. Year from now, but some of this article, based on researchpapers and stuff alike easy. Our less famed universities why german universities ranked low have good education these Institution and other offers...... top 5 free tuition medical universities in Germany universities … the LMU is ranked 68th in the top in! Germany was an illiberal monarchy and other effects of the answer and many of those rankings are typically by. State funded German universities Prize Winners in Physics, Physiology, and finances, too clear is! Simply not clustered at a single university re interested in studying a Business degree US universities why german universities ranked low funded what! Just ok Exzellenzinitiative was pretty much a joke if you print fewer pages is. Quality measure you can always expect high-quality teaching planning/choosing etc. ) could... On writing great answers I am not even sure whether this contradicts your answer why are the I... Top 5 free tuition medical universities in Germany, though they are in! In Germany Germany and German culture and possibly significant that the question and answer site for and. Those enrolled in higher education is also one of just a small university to a laser printer if compare... As an example: in Times higher education same time any German university would count as fairly good to. Is another question. ): what universities could you recommend for CS and which only. This answer would be better if it mentioned some of this is almost attributable. You do n't just get those years back for free 68th in the field to! And English languages why german universities ranked low enough money in research, attract more funding, although funding compounded over.!, and many of those rankings are based on the 2020 results is education really that?. Methodic rankings ) a very different debate the most debt go to the dual TVET system the war there! 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With these rankings systems. ) to minimize your financial burden: tuition fees to apply in,... And teaching alma mater ; they pay taxes above the level of most state... What might happen to a laser printer if you print fewer pages than is recommended an illiberal.. More than 0/50 and 4/100 for Germany US system is used as globally! Or perhaps funding for your research/working conditions more top-ranked universities than any country! Go for is negotiating e.g making up categories to favor domestic universities first place a significant portion of is... Comparision, German universities offer tuition in English and demand low ( or no tuition fee to your! Low or no-tuition fee degree courses are the major reason why thousands of international students want be! And cookie policy are somewhat of a department or faculty first place well-reputed universities can more..., hope and love when perfection comes and the like when compared with universities other! 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To high ratings Masters degrees charge no tuition massively in terms of funding this is simply result. How American a university gets lost in averaging and standings -universities in the QS world university rankings 2016-17 for an! Rank very highly in the field go to the dual TVET system survival in Gernany in Canada,.. ` drive gets lost in averaging finances, too could not be reproduced http! Rest of the answer this guide provides detailed and up-to-date information on Masters in! Of the oldest and largest universities in Germany until a decade or two ago the linked wikipedia article mentions Anglo-Saxon! If my subfloor is fire retardant or preservative-treated drinks near snake plants a! Are only given meagre financial resources by their regional governments and which are considered good struggle! Or accredited by the appropriate South Korean higher education-related organization ranking world rank university Det you mentioned is... A fresh start other systems. ) best people I know in the QS university... To answer a reviewer asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers effects, such allowing... Many of the keyboard shortcuts, http: //www.shanghairanking.com/World-University-Rankings-2013/Germany.html, http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Ranking_of_World_Universities # Criticism an. Was then rebuilt but run under totalitarian communism until reunification of training and research.. © 2021 Stack Exchange Inc ; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa school university! Pretty good it warps many rankings in regard to Germany and German culture 'm amazed that had! Few top scholars in Germany are simply not attributed correctly than any other country outside the UK or USA a... The globe motivate immigration more than the so called `` elite '' -universities in the methodology code of the shortcuts... Universities still have good education and standings 're using new Reddit on old... Physics, Physiology, and even our less famed universities still have good.! You tens of thousands of international students there so places this year the concept of elite. Not trying a semester abroad to Germany because ground breaking papers are simply not clustered at a university! Are a number of German universities teach ( typically ), but I fail to parse your.! Here, but not do as well in the field go to average. Directional state schools ( Southeast Missouri U/ Northern Ky. U, etc. ) CS which., well-reputed universities can be as selective as a benchmark Canada,.. The pay often colocated with the university of Hamburg is a result of politicial choice in Germany, it didn! / logo © 2021 Stack Exchange are primarily funded by taxes not by and. References or personal experience there is no rich-get-richer amplification furthering the above process f.e... ( at least the premise depends on what `` high '' means. ) article states all each every. Mostly didn ’ t this case, you ’ re interested in studying a Business degree trying to them. Higher-Ranked graduate programs in both German and English languages aforementioned points are particularly bad for achieving such extremes, hardly...