Germany's CDU: Foreign medical students must work in Germany or pay
The German conservative party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz wants to charge foreign medical students for their studies if they return to their home countries immediately after graduation instead of working in Germany.
"Anyone who studies here should practise in rural areas for at least five years. Those who do not wish to do so must repay the costs of this first-class education," Sepp Müller, deputy chair of the parliamentary group of the conservative CDU/CSU bloc, told the Bild newspaper in remarks published on Wednesday.
Higher education, including medical school, is mainly free in Germany - to both foreign and domestic students. By contrast, in the United States both domestic and foreign students can pay some $60,000 per year - and more when housing and books are included.
In the United Kingdom, annual international fees range between £43,700 ($59,232) at the Cardiff Medical School in Wales, to £67,194 at the Cambridge Medical School, according to UK testing site UKCAT
The secretary of state in the German Health Ministry, Tino Sorge, also called for measures to prevent foreign medical students from returning to their home countries after completing their studies.
"Our goal must be to retain such highly qualified professionals. We need to attract young doctors to work in Germany instead of watching them leave," the CDU politician told the newspaper. He added that each medical school place comes with significant costs.
Florian Müller, the research policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, told Bild that the federal states should independently regulate the repayment of study costs.
"We need to focus much more on ensuring that international talents work in Germany after university," he said.
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