Degree programs that can be completed part-time, as well as shorter certificate courses, are particularly in demand among working people.
A sentence that everyone has probably heard at some point in their school days: “You don’t learn for school, but for life.” But the reality of life has become more complex. What you learn at school or at university is no longer enough to successfully get through your working life. Lifelong learning is necessary – and universities are increasingly becoming places of lifelong learning.
“In view of the dynamic development of the world of work and social changes, people are faced with the challenge of having to regularly deal with new content, methods and techniques even after obtaining their educational qualifications,” says Anna-Lena Thiele from the CHE Center for University Development in Gütersloh. “Universities can impart the necessary knowledge for this.” And they do so by increasingly offering part-time qualification opportunities in addition to full-time bachelor’s and master’s degree programs – degree programs that can be completed part-time, but recently also increasingly significantly shorter certificate courses. The short formats are particularly well received by professionals who are hungry for education.
The core tasks of universities have expanded, says Nicolas Reum, who works at the CHE as a senior project manager in the area of university research. It is no longer exclusively about research, teaching and studying, but increasingly as a “third mission” in the direction of knowledge transfer and scientific further training. Senior project manager Anna-Lena Thiele took a close look at the university rectors' conference's information portal “hoch &weit”, which has been providing an overview of further training opportunities at universities since 2020 and offering those interested initial orientation. “In August 2022 there were 2,380 offers listed in the portal, a year later there were 3,822 offers, today there are more than 4,000,” says Thiele.
Offers in the areas of business and management dominate both the certificates and the continuing education courses; they make up 40 percent of the total academic continuing education offerings, followed by the area of society and social affairs with 19.5 percent and the segments “key skills, soft skills” with 16. 8 percent and digitalization/computer science with 15.8 percent. The information is based on self-disclosure by the universities, which is why it can be assumed that there are de facto more part-time further training offers in the German university landscape. There is still no reliable data about the extent to which the offers are used. But the universities would hardly have expanded their offerings if there was no corresponding demand.
Targeted further training
The nationwide trend is towards certificate offerings, explains Nicolas Reum. “The quantitative importance now significantly exceeds that of part-time courses,” the expert determined. Short formats, in which a maximum of 60 credit points can be acquired, currently make up around 75 percent of the offered portfolio of the institutions surveyed. “These offers are attractive for people who want to receive specific, targeted training on individual aspects that are important in their job,” explains Anna-Lena Thiele. From their point of view, short formats could increase the willingness to undertake further academic training. “The costs are lower and people don’t make a long-term commitment,” she says, listing the advantages. In addition, the inhibition threshold for interested parties who are not interested in higher education is lower to get involved in further academic education.
Many certificate offerings are structured according to a modular system. “There are often individual modules that are separated from study programs,” informs Nicolas Reum. An academic degree is also possible in this way – provided that someone acquires a certain number of certificates in a subject area and thus collects the corresponding credit points. However, some users only care about specific content in which they need to catch up, or job-relevant, job-related qualifications. A course or just a single seminar may be enough. “Such microcredentials are in increasing demand,” says Nicolas Reum. That is why these special short formats have also been included in the overview grid of the Society for Scientific Continuing Education and Distance Learning since last year.
But the short formats are just a form of flexibility that would open doors for other people interested in education, emphasizes Reum. “The increasing number of these does not necessarily come at the expense of continuing education courses.” These were still considered important in surveys, although the number of certificate offerings now significantly exceeds part-time courses. “Short formats obviously correspond more to the needs of working people or people who have taken on family responsibilities,” assesses Reum.
However, if you want to further your education, you have to dig into your own wallet. Attending university continuing education events in Germany is generally subject to a fee. Due to legal requirements, this area must be financed entirely from fee income. The fees for certificates range from 50 euros (for microformats) to 4000 euros. Part-time courses cost several thousand euros.
