GERMANY: Call for foreign students to fill skills gap

Recruitment of foreign students offers strong potential to help Germany cope with its shortage of skilled labour, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) says, calling for a 25% increase over the next decade.

Nearly one in three foreigners graduating from a German higher education institution chooses to stay on in Germany.

Meanwhile, with campaigns continuing to be run by German higher and secondary education students for free education, it seems unlikely that news about English university tuition fees will boost the UK's popularity as a destination country for student exchange.

With the German economy making an encouraging recovery from the recession, companies are anxious to take on more labour. According to the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHT), they lack at least 400,000 skilled employees, including engineers and other academics.

Anton Börner, President of the German Foreign Trade Association, says that immigration is vital to maintain Germany's prosperity.

Economics Minister Rainer Brüderle is pressing for a new system of immigration to allow more skilled workers into the country. Also, there are general demands to upgrade the country's domestic labour force.

DAAD claims that foreign students offer a strong potential in this context. In 2005, regulations were introduced allowing foreign students graduating from German institutions to work in skilled professions in Germany.

In 2009, 4,820, or one in three, non-EU graduates from a German university took advantage of this, representing just under half of skilled labour immigration from non-EU countries. Figures had been even better before the onset of the economic crisis in 2008.

In 2007, prioritisation of access to employment for EU citizens was dropped for non-EU foreigners who had graduated from German institutions. These graduates can stay on in Germany for up to one year after finishing their studies, need no proof of a minimum income, and can take part-time jobs in this period. Also, those who have been legal residents of Germany for eight years (including study time) and meet conditions such as being in skilled employment, are eligible for a German passport.

The number of foreign students has grown by 40% from 2000-10. This puts Germany in fourth position as a host country. In 2009, enrolment of first-year foreign students peaked at 74,000.

"Recruiting foreign students appears to be the ideal way to boost Germany's skilled labour force," says DAAD President Sabine Kunst. "So, from the DAAD perspective, the priority must be to significantly increase the number of students from abroad, from a present 240,000 to 300,000 in 2020."

As yet, no substantive comments have been made by higher education organisations or by students on developments in higher education funding in the UK.

But attempts to introduce tuition fees in Germany have sparked several student protests over the last few years. They have only survived in a handful of the German federal states, depending largely on the outcome of elections at state government level. At a maximum, the fees are around EUR500 (US$680) a semester.

Student organisations generally accept the need for more funding for higher education, although there is much criticism of fees for forcing many of them to take part-time jobs, sometimes resulting in working days of up to 17 hours, and inevitably lengthening the time it takes to study.

michael.gardner@uw-news.com