German universities struggle to keep foreign students

…….German universities have drawn some of the 20th century's greatest minds but efforts to woo a new generation of international scholars are faltering because foreign students find it difficult to integrate. A new report from the Education Ministry ranks Germany third on the list of top destinations for students studying outside of their home country -- only the United States and Britain have more foreign students. But Germany is struggling to keep this ranking. After growing rapidly since 1997, the number of foreign students -- Chinese form the biggest group -- has barely budged since 2003.……..only half of those enrolled in the country's institutions of higher learning successfully complete their degree programmes."German students aren't hostile to foreigners - but they don't feel the need to approach foreigners and offer help,"………Nearly 190,000 foreign students studied in Germany in 2006, according to the ministry report. By comparison, the United States was the destination of choice for over 590,000 foreign students in 2005, while 318,000 went to Britain in the same year.
The largest contingent in Germany by far come from China, which sent over 26,000 students in 2006.……….Culture shock and a failure to acclimatise to German academic life are two key reasons so many foreign students leave before completing their degrees.……..German academic culture, which gives students a great deal of independence and relatively minimal supervision, also poses a challenge for foreign students who are used to structured curricula. [ View Full Article]