Student in Germany

By Mariya Heinbockel

International students come to study at German universities and want to learn proven ways to succeed.

This book will show how.

Its short chapters are packed with insider tipps that are written in a simple and entertaining language.

This practical and actionable guide explains and teaches the skills such as:

Studies

Exam preparation

Writing term papers

Personal planning, organization, and time-management

Money management

Job hunting

Travel and free time

and many more,

so that anyone can feel confident studying at a German university.

This guide includes a section on useful online resources for accommodation, job hunting, travelling on a budget, and academic studies that will help save time and make life in Germany so much easier.

This book is for all those international students who have the desire, strength, and determination to succeed in academics, find a job, build a career, and enjoy their life in Germany.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mariya Heinbockel
• Release date: Feb 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393454588

Book preview

Education: The German Way

One

The Ultimate Profession: Theoretician

What is the profession you learn?

You may name the field — economics, history, political science, engineering, or some fashionable combination of business and engineering.

But let’s get clear about it. Your future profession is theoretician. And I already hear your protest: „What are you talking about? My program description says „practical orientation („praxisorientiert). They won’t declare it just for fun!". But let me repeat this: your future profession is theoretician. And if you have good grades, you can call yourself a theoretician with deep knowledge of economics, history, political science, engineering, etc. The department doesn’t matter. The profession is the same for everyone.

And here is why.

In Germany, the university concept takes root in the ideal of the scientific and technological development. The university was the heart of scientific research first and an educational establishment second. Students would learn the most progressive ideas in science and technology along with the art of building upon them.

Today, it’s no different. German universities still teach skills for scientific research. It means that at a university they train science workers for universities. And here is the fundamental system flaw. Not all the graduates will work for a university. Over 90% of all graduates will work in corporations, schools, and administrative structures.

Most graduates of German universities share feelings of fear and anxiety. They believe that they haven’t been properly trained for work outside of university. Most graduates complain about too much theory and too little practice in their chosen fields. Economists never have a chance to analyze a balance sheet of an existing firm; historians never work in archives; engineers don’t know how to code. It is something to worry about.

One self-help book ¹ compares a university with a bakery. At a German bakery, you see all kinds of bread, pastry, coffee, and even small groceries. This is how bakeries attract new customers in order to stay in this competitive business. During football games, they bake breads in form of a ball; during city marathons they offer bread for runners; around Christmas and Easter there are cookies and gingerbreads; and in the after-holiday season there are new sorts of diet and health breads every year! All those ideas come from the creativity office of a bakery. And comparing a bakery to a university, it is clear that the latter is the creative office where clever minds imagine new and better sorts of bread. Unfortunately, most graduates won’t end up in the creative office but rather in a bakery where ideas are transformed into products. Graduates don’t lack theoretical knowledge and understanding about how bread is made. But they’ve never done it in real life themselves.

Exactly this is the dilemma of all graduates of German universities: The minds are excellent, there’s knowledge, but all of them have the same profession.

You must know and accept this before you begin your studies.

Two

Professors aren’t Mentors

Understand this: German professors aren’t your mentors. In fact, most professors are incompetent in pedagogics and didactics. In this regard, one professor from Stanford University publicly called German higher education a disaster. Absence of mentorship is one of the most internationally criticized characteristics of the German educational system. ¹

Also, it is the fundamental difference between the German and the American educational systems. University professors in Germany never mentor students or lead by example. They see themselves as scientists.

And what do scientists do? They work in scientific projects. The second concern of scientists is to finance their projects. And the third concern is to be the first to publish the results of their work. In this hierarchy, mentoring students is priority Z or no priority at all.

Why is it so? The reason is that German academic system encourages scientific, not pedagogical, work. The state finances universities and demands from them just one thing: scientific and technological innovations.

Historically, teaching and attending lectures was voluntary in Germany. Students would decide themselves what lectures to attend and what exams to take. Back then professors didn’t even try to present themselves as mentors. The role of a mentor feels foreign to them nowadays, too.

Most academic workers dream about semester breaks most of the time. This is when they can completely devote themselves to their projects. Some sources ² talk about mindset shifts during the seventies, when professors would allow students to be on first-name terms (duzen). Today, however, it’s more conservative than ever.

One reason for this is massive in-flow of international students in German universities. Two hundred people or more attend the same lecture. There’s simply not enough time to mentor everyone. If you don’t show up, no one will ever notice. In fact, it is allowed not to show up at all. A lecturer will be happy to revise one final exam or paper less.

Soon you will notice that professors and other university staff prefer to keep a certain distance from students. Remember that a professor is a scientific authority. He will neither listen to his/her students’ problems nor give advice about how to solve them. Probably he doesn’t even know that you exist and will try to keep it that way. Therefore, it can be a challenge to get an appointment. Sometimes students have to wait for months to see their professor.

What you have to keep in mind is this: all professors and university staff are random people in your life (an exception may be a scientific career of your own). German-speaking self-help guides suggest that you treat your professors with a consumer mindset: Can I get a good grade from this professor?. ³ Furthermore, these guides advise against admiring your professors. Instead, work on their psychogram. What does a professor demand in his exam? What does he like students to write or say?

Of course, there are always exceptional German professors who care deeply about their students. But most of them don’t.

So the best strategy is to be respectful in every interaction with your professors. No temper. No admiration. And you’ll never regret it.

Three

Who is Responsible?

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.

Rabindranath Tagore, Indian poet, musician and artist

In your home country, you lived with your family. Maybe you had a place of your own and visited them several times a year. Social interactions with family and friends always created comfort and feelings of belonging.

But being far away from home, all international students feel lonely and fragile. No parents to take care of them and offer guidance. Hang out with old friends in Skype. Meet new people from different cultures every day. No way of knowing for sure how to deal with them. Scared of saying and doing things wrong. So bringing back social balance becomes a number one priority. International students instinctively try to find support and find it fast. On a deeper level they know: without social belonging, it will be difficult for them to survive, falling prey to fear and panic.

In such a mental state, it is an easy choice to depend on outside judgement, and all international students go through this phase. Without even knowing, they look for praise and support from older people around them. Often, this group includes university professors. Most international students expect that their professors give them clear requirements, offer advice, and guide them through studies.

Unfortunately, nothing like this ever happens. Disappointment grows into emotional crisis. Negativity accumulates and blocks the learning curve. Grades get worse. The whole study process seems to go down the spiral. Facing this situation, progressive international students will go see a psychiatrist. The majority, however, will blame the educational system. And only the wisest among them will drop expectations, accept 100% responsibility for their studies and life abroad, and refuse to entertain any illusory thoughts.

Avoid the emotional trap. Understand this: In Germany, you are on your own. Regardless of your situation at a university, you will always be the only one to blame. You will never succeed to prove otherwise. It is always your fault. So you better learn fast to take responsibility for your studies and life. As Germans say: Ich bin für mein Lernen selbst zuständig. Ich hole mir das, was ich dafür brauche. (I am the only one responsible for my learning. And I will use what I need.).

Make this your mantra.

Four

Go Coach Yourself

When I was an exchange student in the USA, I had a personal academic advisor. It was a professor from the department where I majored. He helped me coordinate my studies and life. It was him who advised me against simultaneous internship and academic work. It was him who suggested conferences I could take part in. It was him who took extra time to explain how to cite in academic papers. I benefited from his advice tremendously, and it showed in my grades.

I could’t even imagine that it could be different in Germany. So I made it a priority to find myself an academic advisor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. After careful consideration I chose a professor who, from my point of view, cared more about his students than his colleagues (maybe because he himself studied in the USA).

I showed up for the appointment and declared that I want him to be my academic advisor. The professor froze and blinked his eyes frequently for at least a minute. Then he told me it’s not a common practice at German universities to assign an academic advisor to every student. Moreover, his office hours don’t include mentoring students. He suggested that I make an appointment with my program coordinator.

A program coordinator is a research fellow who works on her own dissertation project but must do dozens of department tasks in-between (like being a program coordinator). Normally, she may not give any advice about lectures. In fact, she doesn’t have any idea how they take place. Also, her job description doesn’t include mentoring students. Ask this kind of questions your fellow students, she told me.

But my fellow students either couldn’t or wouldn’t help me out. To conceal information is common practice among students of business and economics. Those students who already passed difficult exams, enjoy secret feelings of joy because their fellow students still have to take them.

And just like that there was nowhere to go with my questions. I still knew nothing about course modules (das Studienmodul), study schedules (der Stundenplan), and the credit point system. The only way out was to follow the advice Learn to your passion and pick classes intuitively. And it was my biggest fail of the first semester. Please don’t repeat my mistakes!

But what should you do, if there’s no one to help you?

The number one advice I can share with you is to find fellow students who speak your native language. Target sophomores, and those freshmen who have prior experience in the German educational system. Ask these guys, and they will at least help you understand how to plan your studies in advance.

Yes, you must learn to ask questions. Ask for information that other students already know, but you don’t. Never wait for someone to offer it to you. Don’t expect an academic advisor, or even a caring program coordinator. You are in a no-mentor-but-myself territory.

So ask questions. At the beginning of your studies, your goal is to know what other students know. And maybe a little more.

Five

It’s not a School - it’s a Puzzle!

University education in Germany is not an alternative to something else. You don’t go to study at a German university because you are bored and lack a plan for your life. Just the contrary: You choose to get university education in Germany because you are serious about your future.

Any kind of education is an important step in professional development and personal growth. Your choice to study at a German university, however, is a big challenge. It already signals that you value independence above all. All of your academic courses will help develop this important quality. ¹

German professors recommend thinking of your studies as a big puzzle. You will add to it every single day, as you attend lectures and do academic work. Your task is to collect the pieces of knowledge into your unique pattern. In every class, stay present and work to put that puzzle together, ² advise professors from Kiel.

And work you must, especially on your mindset. I come from a post-Soviet school where professors would explain the subject until everyone gets it. So there was very little work to do outside classes. Students don’t actually learn subjects there — they learn from their professors. Competent professors automatically equal solid knowledge. In the USA, it’s the same. University professors lecture, explain, and teach. But in Germany they ask you to "put together a puzzle". And that puzzle comes in different languages, German and English being the minimum requirement (my puzzle for the elite program at the University of Munich came in seven different languages!).

Most international students, myself included, have to re-work their whole value system. Eventually you’ll doubt whether you need a professor at all. In reality, you have to learn everything on your own. There won’t be detailed explanations, clear articulation of requirements (sometimes no clear vocal articulation, too), and structured preparation materials for exams. You will have to collect those from your fellow students and tutors. Won’t it be easier to spend your days in the library and ignore lectures and professors? The ugly truth is that it’s still the best strategy for studies and life in Germany.

But please don’t follow it at the beginning of your studies. At least try to put together that puzzle. Maybe you will like this approach. Who knows?

Six

Unlimited Freedom

As you know, I studied international business and history in the USA and in Germany. And I must say that the highly praised American freedom doesn’t feel as great as the German. And here is why.

In the American educational system you absolutely must understand the subject both theoretically and practically. Without understanding, you’ll never pass exams which are 80% based on solving problems.

In the German system, however, deep understanding of theory is not imperative. If you do understand it — great. If you don’t, you can always memorize it and get an excellent final grade. It’s for you, and for you alone, to decide whether to memorize or to understand. Do you remember "Ich bin für mein Lernen selbst zuständig. Ich hole mir das, was ich dafür brauche"? You choose what to learn, how to learn,