Studying at the FH Aachen - Fachbereich Luft- und ...

the university system
in Germany
in Germany, students can choose from
different types of university. Essentially,
the difference is between traditional
universities and universities of applied
sciences. Both kinds of universities offer
academic degrees. Traditional universities
tend to be more oriented towards
scientific research, whereas universities
of applied sciences provide a more practical
or application-oriented education.
Some universities of applied sciences, for
example the FH Aachen, are also very
focused on research. The most important
difference is that universities of applied
sciences may only offer doctoral degrees
in cooperation with traditional universities.
Universities of applied sciences are
uniquely German. Since their beginnings
in the 1970s, they have quickly grown
in popularity. Today, about one-third
of all first-year students in Germany
are enrolled in a university of applied
sciences, and 32 percent of all graduates
earn their degrees at one. Also since then,
about 70 percent of those employed in
the engineering professions have graduated
from universities of applied sciences.
There are about 150 universities of
applied sciences in Germany, and most
are supported by the German federal
states. A small number are churchsupported
or private. Many universities
of applied sciences have arisen from
facilities that were oriented towards
particular subject areas, such as schools
of engineering or scientific secondary
schools. This is why some of the faculties
at the FH Aachen can look back upon a
100-year old history. The German Framework
Act for Higher Education of 1976
raised universities of applied sciences to
the same level as traditional universities.
welCome to tHe FH AACHen
Studying at the FH Aachen 7