International students desiring to study their Undergrad or Masters programmes in Germany are offered what is known as the 'Foundation' course at Anhalt University
One of the recent emerging trends we have seen is the aspiration of the teens to seek quality education abroad. Students who complete their 12th standard in India face very tough competition to get into reputed institutes of higher learning. This has resulted in young students looking at alternate options to avail quality education in the subjects of their choice. Thus we see increasing number of students going abroad for undergrad courses.
The cost of such undergrad education makes these courses well out of the reach of middle income group families. In USA, typically, an undergrad course in Engineering can cost $100,000 or more over the four years.
However a lot of countries, especially in Europe, are offering high quality education at affordable costs. The reason for these countries offering at such low costs can be traced to the demographic problems these countries have been facing over the years.
It’s a well-known fact that many European countries like Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Germany etc., which have some of the highest standard of living in the world have seen their population decrease over the years.
Germany is the fourth largest economy in the world and has one of the highest per capita incomes. According to the census of 2020, Germany’s population stood at around 82 million or 8.2 crores. It has been predicted that at the current rate of decrease in population, by 2050 the population of Germany might fall to 65 million or 6.2 crores.
This has set the alarm bells ringing in the government. The HR Ministry of Germany predicted huge shortage of skilled man power which may lead to the downfall of their prosperous economy.
The government of Germany has formulated a policy which invites young people from across the globe with special emphasis on India to come and study in Germany and earn jobs and contribute to the exchequer and earn the right to become citizens of Germany.
The requirement is for the students to come to Germany and invest on learning the German language and to study in Germany with German as the Medium of Instruction. A special course has been formulated for this purpose and a few universities have been authorised to conduct these courses.
Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, a Public University based out of Kothen in Germany, is one such university. It has campuses in Kothen, Dassau and Bernburg in Germany. Kothen is around 30 minutes by bus to Liepzig and around 2 hours train journey to Berlin.
International students desiring to study their Undergrad or Masters programmes in Germany are offered what is known as the ‘Foundation’ course at Anhalt University. It has to be noted that in Germany, higher secondary education lasts for a period of 13 years while in India it’s only 12 years.
So, International students are required to undergo what is known as a Foundation Course which is of one year duration. During this period, a student will be taught German up to C1 level of language proficiency and will also be taught to study the subjects of their choice with German as Medium of Instruction. After completion of this course, the student will need to take a test called the FSP (Feststellungsprüfung in German). On successful clearance of this FSP test, a student can continue to do his course of choice either at Anhalt University or at any of the many public universities in Germany. Admission to these universities will be on the basis of the score in the FSP test. The notable point here is that the student invests only on the Foundation course leading to the FSP test. After that the education in Germany is entirely free right up to the competition of the post graduate study. During the Foundation course, students are allowed to work on weekends and during holidays like summer holidays or winter holidays.
The name of the institution which offers such Foundation course is ‘StudienKolleg’.
StudienKolleg at Anhalt University offers students varied courses like Engineering, Economics, International Business, Food Processing, Land scaping Architecture & Environmental Planning, Bio Medical Engineering, Bio Technology, Architecture, Applied Computer Sciences, Integrated Design, Pharmaceutical Engineering, Automotive Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, Digital Media and Game Development, Commerce courses etc. The cost of this foundation course at Anhalt is 10000€.
After completion of the Bachelor’s course students have the option of either continuing with their education and complete their Masters or look for a job. A student is given a job seeker visa after completion of the course for a period of two years from the date of completion of the course within which time the student has to find a job.
Jobs are plentiful and there is a demand for skilled workers in Germany. A sound knowledge of the German language makes these students attractive hires. After working for 5 years in Germany, one can apply for Permanent Resident status. Once the PR status is achieved another three years of working in Germany makes a person eligible for German Citizenship. A student who goes to Germany for an undergrad programme can become a citizen of Germany by the age of 33 years.
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