150,000 German Students Strike Over Education Reform

Image by adobemac via Flickr

Germany's largest ever Education Strike commenced today with over 150,000 students participating. The week long strike means that students will not attend classes and instead will form protests and demonstrations in 70 German cities.

The basis for the students discontent is a fundamental change in the way degrees are conferred. Germany is switching to the more universally accepted Bachelor Of Arts degree which takes 3 or 4 years to complete. Students complain that this is insufficient time to study a subject in real depth. It was common in Germany to spend 10 years in university to obtain a basic degree and denying students that extensive an education is viewed as detrimental.

In addition to the truncated time spent obtaining a degree, the universities are increasing their tuition fees as well.

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