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S2009/042 - 17 November 2009Advice for German students intending to study at German UniversitiesThe Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (Kultusministerkonferenz, KMK) of the German states (Lānder) has recommended to German universities that they accept the New Zealand National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) results for entry to German universities, provided that the requirements listed on the German language website www.anabin.de are met. These are largely New Zealand’s own minimum requirements for University Entrance, although in addition KMK requires that at least five distinct subjects have been studied. General Requirements German students wishing to apply for university in Germany after studying at school in New Zealand must:
Simply having the minimum requirements may not make students eligible for the competitive entry courses. Prospective students need to check the requirements for their preferred university courses before commencing their final year of study at school, to help inform their subject choice and the grades required. The Abitur is the school leaving qualification in Germany for students intending to study at universities. Unlike NCEA, the Abitur certificate provides an average score, the Abiturdurchschnittsnote, allowing universities to rank students for the competitive allocation of university places. The higher the grades students achieve in the standards they undertake in each Level 3 subject, the better the result they will get in the Abitur conversion. Students should be aiming for as many Merit and Excellence grades as possible. In addition, German universities (as distinct from KMK) might expect students with foreign qualifications to have followed a programme of study similar to that undertaken by students studying for Abitur. The main feature of the German requirements is that a student has studied a broad range of subjects. This normally needs to include languages, mathematics, science and some history. Subject Choice Care needs to be taken in advising German students on their subject choices because many common subject combinations for New Zealand students may not be acceptable to German universities. There are strict rules about subject choice for students studying for Abitur. Students sit the final Abitur exams in four or five subjects. KMK requires that students studying in New Zealand take at least five subjects and advises that English or Te Reo Māori are suitable substitutes for German, which is compulsory in Germany. Minimum subject requirements, as established by KMK:
The recommended subjects for those wishing to most closely follow the Abitur requirements are:
Table 1 (right) shows details of approved New Zealand university entrance subjects and the corresponding approved Abitur subjects. The table indicates which subjects are classified as social sciences, natural sciences and as language, literature and arts. Should a student want to study sport or a second social science, it is recommended s/he does so in addition; that is, as a sixth subject. Practical Art is counted as only one subject in Germany, even if students study several Visual Arts contexts in New Zealand. Similarly, Mathematics with Calculus and Statistics and Modelling are considered to be one subject.
NZQA recommends that schools advise students wishing to apply to a German university to choose from the list of jointly approved subjects. Table 2 (right) shows details of New Zealand university entrance approved subjects that are not approved Abitur subjects. KMK has advised that: “if any other subjects are offered by foreign applicants with foreign certificates, these subjects must be individually scrutinised to check if they could be accepted in the individual case”. Please see the table for full details. Information on German education – years of study required Germany is a federal parliamentary republic of 16 states (Lānder). The 16 individual states have responsibility for the German education system and the federal government only has a minor role. This is important to know because each state has a different school system and it is difficult to give generic advice. There are varying curricula across states for almost every subject, and the required years of formal education are between 12 and 13 years. While most states will recognise German students’ NCEA and University Entrance, even if obtained – as will normally be the case – after only 11.5 years, it is strongly recommended that schools encourage students to check the requirements of their “home” state and/or the state they plan to eventually move to for their university studies, before coming to New Zealand. Enquiries A PDF Please refer any enquiries relating to this circular to your School Relationship Manager.
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Page updated: 17 November 2009