Berkley Center

Although recent educational reforms have brought the models of bachelor's and master's degrees to Germany, there are still many ways in which the structure of study differs from the American university paradigm. Far from the four year standard, the length of study is rarely defined at its beginning and often seems indefinite.

The call for structure, like any change, is seen to have its advantages and disadvantages. The seemingly liberal structure of study is made possible, at least in part, by the staggeringly low (by American standards) tuition fees, which range up to 500 euros per semester in Bavaria. At the current exchange rate that would add up to just a bit under 1,400 dollars per year. In some states Studiengebühren (tuition fees) still have not been instituted—much to the delight of the students.

After widespread protests were staged in reaction to the new student fees, I find it best not to discuss the cost of a private university in the United States. Somehow the topic arises, and usually results in an emotional gumbo with equal parts confusion, distaste, shock, and latent satisfaction. Somehow this question-answer session is reminiscent, for me at least, of that scene in films, which is often the turning point for the protagonist. A man or woman in a dark suit writes a number on a slip of paper and slides it across the table. A close-up of the recipients' eyes opened wide as he or she in that second embraces capitalist opportunism, succumbs to greed, turns to the dark side, or what have you. I've even heard a frustrated and cheeky American student advise her European counterpart to 'Google it' in order to avoid this type of scene.

But I digress; the differences between the American and the German university go beyond the price tag. The liberal structure of the university also results in the need for a more precise classification of the students. Instead of labeling the students as freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, in Germany, the common way to denote one's progress at the university is by the quantity of semesters instead of years. I feel a bit odd answering that I am in my fifth semester right before I ask where the library is, but that is of course part of the magic of being an exchange student. There are senior students at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU); however, the term does not denote fourth year undergraduate as it does in the United States. I am talking about senior citizens. Of course there are similarly aged-to-perfection students at Georgetown as well, but they are a stark minority.

There are many scenarios in which I would fully expect twenty-somethings to be outnumbered, but on my first day of class in Munich I was surprised to find that that list should include the imposing lecture halls of LMU. Indeed, I would say that the students over age 65 vastly outnumbered those under age 25. Despite the great difference in number of mature student participation between Georgetown and LMU, I was interested to see that the course selections of these students were quite similar. Students have to register for seminars, but lectures are open to any student with interest. Of my three lectures, the most popular for senior students is European history, which is followed closely in popularity by art history and at a distance by new German literature. If there are any senior students in introductory Latin, then they are very well camouflaged. In my extremely small sample size of experience I found similar propensities of the mature students at Georgetown. I found myself questioning how the classroom dynamics would be altered when the professor was younger than the average student by more than 10 years.

How would the students of history react to the delineation of events and phenomena that they themselves experienced? On my third day I found out. In response to an apparently false description of a print depicting some religious figures, "Falsch!" echoed through the hall, as one hundred or more senior students simultaneously decided to enlighten the professor, who smiled and deferred to the better religiously versed members of the audience. Thus, although German universities are adapting to the bachelor-master model, there are still a variety of structural and cultural differences that make student life at the LMU quite distinct. I find myself asking whether singularities such as the low student fees, less-defined duration of study, and an abundance of pensioners returning to school could ever be a part of the American higher education system and whether American and German universities have more or less in common than I originally considered.