Part-time models have long been established in professional life. This does not apply to studying. At universities in Germany, the number of part-time students has fallen once again, despite the larger number of degree programmes on offer. Around half of the official part-time students are spread across just three universities. Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have the highest rates in a state comparison. This is shown by the annual evaluation of the CHE Centre for Higher Education.
Part-time students in Germany down by 13,000 in three years
According to the Federal Statistical Office, around 217,000 people were officially studying part-time in Germany in the winter semester 2023/24. Compared to the previous year, this corresponds to a decrease of 6,000 people. Compared to the peak in winter semester 2020/21, there are therefore 13,000 fewer students in Germany who are not studying full-time. Part-time students currently make up 7.6 per cent of all students.
‘However, the proportion of unofficial part-time students in Germany who study less intensively or longer than planned is significantly higher. Around a quarter of students take at least one year longer to complete their degree than stipulated in the study regulations,’ says Cort-Denis Hachmeister. author of the study.
Hamburg has by far the highest proportion of part-time students
In the CHE state evaluation, Hamburg has by far the highest proportion of part-time students at 21.4 per cent. At four private universities, including the two distance-learning universities in the Hanseatic city, the proportion of part-time students is more than 25 per cent. The rates are also in double figures in North Rhine-Westphalia (13.5 %) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (12.2 %). There was a slight increase in NRW, Berlin, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Saarland. With 238 part-time students and a rate of 0.8 per cent, Saarland is nevertheless at the bottom of the state comparison.
Around half of part-time students are spread across just three universities
The CHE’s annual evaluation shows the great importance of private universities for the topic. More than half of all part-time students are now enrolled at a private institution. A few universities are particularly attractive for students who cannot or do not want to study full-time. 48 per cent of all part-time students are enrolled at either the private FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management, the state-run FernUniversität in Hagen or the private Hamburger Fern-Hochschule.
‘In contrast to working life, there is no legal entitlement to part-time study’
The CHE also analyses the development of degree programmes that can also or exclusively be studied part-time. One in five degree programmes (19.9%) is now part-time compatible. Saarland and Hamburg are ahead of the other federal states in this respect, with offer rates of 66.7 and 62.9 per cent respectively.
‘In contrast to working life, there is no legal entitlement to a part-time option when studying,’ explains Cort-Denis Hachmeister. If you want to study part-time in Germany, you either need luck or money: The often very flexible study programmes at private universities come at a price in the form of tuition fees. If, on the other hand, you find a suitable part-time option at a state university, you regularly have to go through a bureaucratic process to prove why you can’t study full-time,’ says the expert on university admissions at CHE. ‘And even then, there is usually no real part-time study programme model, but you are simply allowed to study longer,’ continues Hachmeister.
Studying law or medicine part-time is almost impossible
There is still a lack of flexible study programmes at state universities, which students can also take advantage of in a pragmatic and uncomplicated way – for example, if they have family commitments. In addition, the more flexible degree programmes offered by private universities do not cover the entire range of subjects. ‘It is almost impossible to study a traditional university subject such as law or medicine part-time,’ says Hachmeister.
To make matters worse, there is still a funding gap in student financing. Students who do not want to lose their entitlement to BAföG are not officially allowed to study part-time anyway.
About this study:
The publication ‘CHECK – Part-time study in Germany 2024’ covers the part-time study programmes offered by universities and the number of students officially enrolled part-time. The part-time offer rate is based on data from the Higher Education Compass of the German Rectors’ Conference from May 2024, which CHE Consult has been analysing since 2016 on behalf of the non-profit CHE Centre for Higher Education. The percentages of part-time students are based on data from the Federal Statistical Office for the winter semester 2023/24.