Brits say German bachelor is second rate

There is an article in the German weekly "der Spiegel"(in German) about the assessment of the newly introduced German Bachelor degree.
http://www.spiegel.de/unispiegel/studium/0,1518,232725,00.html

According to this article the british NARIC assessed that a Bachelor degree from a German university is equivalent only to a british "ordinary bachelor" and so doesn't qualify the student to enter a british Master program in the most cases. The Germans are, of course, upset and disappointed.
I think the information above is pretty interesting, especially in conjunction with the discussion that took place on this board some time ago about the equivalency of British and American undergraduate degrees.

Dennis Siemens

 

Boy that's hard to believe. I dought the British would consider anything German to be equal to it's British counterpart. Remember what happened in the 1940's. But with their great DL programs you've got to repspect the British educational system.

 

the thing is more that they do not consider something simply called "Bachelor" (Germany) being equivalent to something called "Bachelor with Honours" (GB), which is just a naming problem (for the German universities).

Actually, the British often do not see even an American Bachelor´s as being equivalent to their Bachelor with Honours because the British honours degree is a far more spefic degree in sometimes only 1 subject whereas the American bachelor has a lot of "liberal arts" and x-disciplinary stuff inside which European degrees usually don´t have... (because Europeans have already learned that stuff in high school, in Germany e.g. in the 13th grade).

T.

 

Anyone ever own an English car???

 

No. It is because they are very expensive. They are very durable but they often lack luxury.

 

Yes triggersoft, but I assume that UK NARIC also looks at the contents of academic programs. In fact, that is what evaluation is all about. Comparing only names of degrees is very superficial and there certainly wouldn't be a need in such evaluation organizations like NARIC if this task was that simple.
Now, in the case of the American bachelor I can understand, because the American and British bachelors have (substantial) differences in the curriculum. However, in case of the German bachelor, which by all accounts is more similar to the British than to the American bachelor, I honestly don't.

Dennis Siemens

 

Isn't there something called an International Bacheloriate?

Nosborne, BA, JD

 

I was thinking back to the 1960s, when a couple friends owned English cars and they spent more time walking than driving. An Anglia and a Sunbeam.

 

High school. Maybe like AP exams? Don't know.

 

International Baccalaureate is a K-12 program. For more information, see http://www.ibo.org.



Tom Nixon

 

I am not an expert in education, but German higher education enjoys great prestige within Europe. I doubt that a German Bachelor's doesn't constitute enough qualification for admissions to a British taught Master's, especially given the fact that most British Universities accept people to these programs without any type of formal education.

 

Exactly, JLV.

Besides, the article says that the British universities are not forced to comply with to the NARIC´s recommendation.

I strongly doubt that a British university will reject someone with a A or B grade average Bachelor from a German university when it´s furthermore in the fitting concentration/major for the Master´s program.

Greets,
Trigger

 

You know what the British don't make computers? They haven't figured out a way to make 'em leak oil.