Report finds shortcomings in university teaching

An analysis by Germany’s Centre for Higher Education has produced a mixed picture of university teaching, with students largely satisfied despite poor teacher-learner ratios.

The analysis of U-Multirank data shows that just 28 per cent of university departments in Germany have teacher-student ratios considered good or very good—the average across Europe is 49 per cent of departments. The same amount, 28 per cent of German departments, had below-average teacher-student ratios, compared with just 16 per cent Europe-wide.

The report suggests that this shortage of teachers is partly responsible for the relative inability of students in Germany to complete their studies on time. Nearly half of all German university departments see an above-average number of students fail to complete their studies within the allotted time frame. The figure for Europe is 30 per cent.