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Pressemitteilungen aus der MBA-Welt
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14.9.2009
Swimming against the tide: funding your postgraduate degree in troubled times
Case study: Germany Globalrecession, mounting debts, bank collapses – do postgradstudents have any chance of funding their Masters or PhD degrees these days? Ifyou’re considering staying on at university for your graduate degree, either athome or abroad, then how – and where – will you fund your studies?Topgradschool.com takes a look. Domestic funding Thegood news in Germanyis that despite the credit crunch there are still many funding opportunitiesavailable. “Thewhole attitude to student finance is changing in Germany,” says Anja Hofmann,Geschäftsführung at Deutsche Bildung. “We used to be of the opinion thateducation should be free so students didn't need money. However, with thechange brought about by the Bolognaagreement, which split higher education into bachelors and Masters levelprograms, there is less time for students to work while they are studying.There is therefore a recognition that they need some kind of funding, at leastfor their living expenses. Since 2006, the provision of student finance hasjust got bigger and bigger, and, even in the credit crunch, I don't think it isharder to finance your graduate studies than it once was. Hofmannsays outside the BaföG system, private banks such as Deutsch Bank and DresdnerBank have joined the main publicly-run provider KFW in offering studentfinance. “Organizations such as my own are offering income-linked aid in whichthe money is paid back at a fixed percentage of future income over a fixedperiod. Certainly, providers like us feel the effects of the financial crisis,but there is quite a good offer around in Germany now for the students.” Ontop of the state and private providers, the charitable foundations also offer awide range of support. “More than 2,200 foundations in Germany providescholarships to students or artists and many of them are also organized in theBundesverband,” says Sebastian Bühner of the Bundesverband DeutscherStiftungen. “There are some big, well-known ones such as the Kölner Gymnasial -und Stiftungsfonds, which sponsors about 150 scholarship holders per year, butthere are many smaller ones too, some of which are very much niche providers. Bühnercontinues: “Finding the right one can be difficult, but the advice I would giveis to start with our home page and accept that it is going to be a lot of hardwork sifting through them to find the one that is aimed at someone like you. Itcan be worth it in the end however as a scholarship often means more thanreceiving some money. One gets into contact with interesting people and manyfoundations offer side programs one is encouraged to take part in. Theseprograms can give important incentives to one’s career.” International funding Inthe UK, university budgets are being maintained in order to support studentswishing to continue their education from undergraduate to postgraduate, duringa time when reports of reduced employment opportunities are dominating thenational newspapers. This is good news for German students interested instudying at a top grad school in the UK - universities are welcominginternational students with open arms and money. UniversityCollege London (UCL) has recently invested more than £250,000 in a newscholarship scheme to support international research students while at the sametime continuing their Global Excellence Scholarships, each worth £5,000 for oneyear of study and open to all students of high academic potential. According toProfessor David Bogle, Head of the Graduate School at UCL,maintaining a good level of funding for new Masters and PhD students is anessential way to attract the highest quality candidates. “Continuing to fundstudents for graduate study is important for all universities to attract thebest candidates to their programs, particularly at a time when otheropportunities might not be as freely available as they were in recent years,”he says. Meanwhile,in the US, Harvard’s new student loan scheme, in partnership with JPMorganChase, will support international students enrolling in the University’sgraduate programs through a simple application and underwriting process. Different options Differenteconomic realities might also require different approaches to funding your Mastersor PhD. One solution is to consider studying part time, halving your tuitionfees and allowing you to work throughout the course of your degree. Anincreasing number of universities are offering Masters programs in a moreflexible fashion, with evening and weekend teaching, or compressing modulesinto a fixed afternoon every week allowing students to work to fund theirdegree. The student experience MyraUnger is doing a one-year MSc in International Relations at the London Schoolof Economics (LSE). She has a BA in Integrated European Studies from theUniversity of Bremen and took a year out to work in various internshippositions before starting her graduate studies. Her parents are paying herfees, but she has received finance from Deutsche Bildung to pay for her livingexpenses. “It'sexpensive living and studying in London,”she says. ”I spend twice as much here as I do in Germany. My parents continue tosend me a little support and I receive some money from the state because myfather is no longer alive, however, I still need the finance from DeutscheBildung. I heard about this from one of my friends who also studied in the UK,and it wasn't difficult to apply for, although there were on-line motivationaland intelligence tests involved. Despite the expense, I would recommendstudying in London. The system and organization is quite similar to Germany, andyou are looked after quite well. The only thing I would say is that you need tobe very focussed as Londonhas a lot of distractions.” Home is still great value Oneof the biggest questions for Masters level students is whether to study at homeor abroad. “Itis natural in an era of globalization for young people to have some idea ofstudying abroad sooner or later,” says Hofmann. “But it is worth rememberingthat we do not really pay for our education in Germany and that the quality ishigh. You won't be able to combine international experience and languagelearning with an academic experience it's true, but it is worth asking why youshould go abroad when you have such good value for money here.” |
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