Due to the present economic boom in Germany, the demand for qualified manpower is rapidly increasing. According to new statistics, the shortage of professionals with qualifications in engineering, the sciences and mathematics has increased to 117,000. The German government sees no chance to recruit enough qualified young people from the domestic population. It has, therefore, plans to make the present, already liberal stay-back options even more attractive to study graduates from abroad.
For international students, Germany has become the third most important study destination, just behind the US and UK and ahead of other major players in the international educational scene like Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In 2009, around 235,000 students with foreign passports were enrolled at German universities. In the same year, however, only 5,000 graduates from outside the EU stayed back in Germany to work. Most of the international students either returned home or moved on to English-speaking countries after finishing their studies.
Keeping the high public subsidies for university education and the shortage of manpower in mind, this situation is very unsatisfactory in the eyes of the German government. One problem are lacking German language skills of many foreign graduates. Most employers in Germany still expect new employees to communicate fluently in the local language. So, if you consider staying back in the country after your studies, start investing some time into learning German as early as possible!
Chris
germanstudycentre@gmail.com
