Less than 50% of Students in German Universities Graduate

The Federal Office of Statistics (Statische Bundesamt) last month released shocking figures on how many students graduate in Germany.

In 2012, only 138,700 students graduated within the recommended duration time. Looking at all study courses offered across the country, only 39.3% graduated on time. On adding two semesters, then 365 800 graduated, 77% of the total.

But on looking at specific study courses, the figures were much worse.

Looking at the rate of completion, 77% of the students required two extra semesters to graduate. The fastest were the management students of whom 98.7% graduated within a year of their recommended study duration. While for human medicine it was 88.4 % and 85.3% for the social services. For German studies (68.5 %) and law (67.3%), the numbers were much lower.

Below are the statistics on the dropout rate in different study courses, namely:

• Mathematics
• Electrical Engineering
• Mechanical Enginerring
• Architecture and civil engineering
• Engineering in general
• Computer Engineering and IT related courses
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Language and Cultural studies
• Biology
• Education or Sports
• Social Sciences
• Geography