Students poorly prepared for university, says report

Vocational schools and colleges in Germany must do more to prepare pupils for university, a report has concluded.

About 29 per cent of all undergraduates dropped out of their studies in 2014, the report by the DZHW, the national centre for higher education research, found. Half of these did so in the first two semesters, and another quarter in each of the third and fourth semesters. The report, which studied the reasons for Germany’s high university dropout rates, was published on 1 June.

Poor preparation at school level was one of the biggest reasons for students dropping out, the report found. School curricula and higher education study requirements should be better aligned at state level as the foundation for university success, it suggested.