No more tuition fees for universities in Germany

KARACHI: University students in Pakistan struggle to pay tuition and often drop out due to the heavy cost of higher-education, but in Germany when universities open next week, students will pay absolutely nothing.

Gabriele Heinen-Kljajic, the minister for science and culture in Lower Saxony the last state to abolish tuition fees says, “We got rid of tuition fees because we do not want higher education which depends on the wealth of the parents.”

Meanwhile, Dorothee Stapelfeldt a Senator from Hamburg where tuition fees was abolished in 2012 said, “Tuition fees are socially unjust,” adding that it discourages “young people who do not have a traditional academic family background from taking up studies. It is a core task of politics to ensure that young women and men can study with a high quality of standard free of charge in Germany.”

The move to end tuition fees began in 2006, when state governments decided to charge an affordable 1000 euros per year after courts ruled that tuition fees did not violate Germany’s commitment towards universal post-secondary education.

As cost of higher education continues to rise globally, Germany’s tuition-fees free Universities are sure to attract applications from across the globe.