More people opting for vocational route to university

The number of university students without an Abitur—the German equivalent of a baccalaureate—has more than doubled since 2010, a survey has found.

A new high of 56,900 students qualified for university through vocational training in Germany in 2016, the survey conducted by the Centre for Higher Education Development found. The number has been growing since the route was introduced just under 10 years ago, and now accounts for 2 per cent of all university students, the news website Spiegel Online reported on 5 April.

In 2016, more than one in two undergraduates without an Abitur studied a subject from the legal, economic or social sciences, while one in five studied engineering. Nearly two-thirds were based at universities of applied sciences, almost half were older than 30, and just over half were men.