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NDTV
25-05-2025
- Business
- NDTV
Studying in Germany: Tuition-Free Education and Top Universities
Studying in Germany 2025: Germany is known for providing tuition-free education to students through its public universities irrespective of the nationality. Students can apply for various undergraduate and postgraduate programs at several universities offering tuition-free education. The abolition of tuition fee was done in 2014 by Germany's 16 states for public universities and has been in place since then. Studying in Germany: Basic Semester Fees and Requirements While the tuition fee is free, students will be still required to pay a nominal semester fee, ranging from 150 euros to 350 euros which will cover administrative costs and may include public transportation passes. To get admission into Germany's public universities, students must know German language as it is used as the source of medium for teaching. They can complete a certification course in German language and use it as a proof while applying. Students must provide Academic transcripts (official academic records from previous university or school), a Letter of Recommendation, clear the Language Proficiency Test (LPT), provide Statement of Purpose (SOP) which includes details of your reason for applying, your goals and why you would be an ideal candidate for the university and give the Standardized Tests for admission to undergraduate or postgraduate programs. Here Is A List Of Top Public Universities Providing Tuition Free Education In Germany: Technical University of Munich (TUM) Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU Munich) Humboldt University of Berlin University of Bonn University of Freiburg University of Hamburg RWTH Aachen University University of Cologne University of Leipzig Studying in Germany 2025: Living Expenses and Scholarships Students must expect an expense of 800 euros to 1200 euros per month. Students can also take full time jobs for up to 120 days and half time jobs for 240 days per year to cover their expenses. Various scholarships are offered in Germany to support international students financially. Some of the scholarships include: DAAD Scholarships: DAAD scholarship, offered by German Academic Exchange Service, provides financial support for various programs. Deutschland stipendium: A merit-based scholarship that offers financial assistance to high-achieving students. Erasmus+ Program: Provides funding opportunities for students to study abroad within Europe. Before applying, students must carefully choose their respective college university and compare the education system of various universities to meet your academic goals.
Local Germany
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Local Germany
EXPLAINED: How Germany is preparing for a looming US 'brain drain'
Citing far-reaching job and funding cuts at US universities and research institutions, Trump's actions have endangered science and well-being worldwide, the President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Robert Schlögl, said recently. In response German research institutions and universities are making moves to work more closely with US researchers. But despite some initial fervour around the idea of attracting the US's top talent, most are taking a more cautious approach. Here's how some of Germany's leading research institutions are responding, including some of the opportunities for US researchers they are pushing. Will the US suffer a brain drain? The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) suspects that the situation in the USA could lead to a global shift. "Top talent from countries like India, China or Brazil, who would have previously gone mainly to the USA, are now considering whether other countries could be a better option," said DAAD spokeswoman Cordula Luckassen. Large-scale "brain drains", or the exodus of qualified scientists, have occurred many times in history. Germany suffered its own brain drain around 1933, after the National Socialists came to power when Jewish and dissident academics fled the country. Luckassen suggests that in the DAAD offices in the US, there is a growing interest in Germany as a science location among international doctoral candidates and postdocs. Many of these academics currently work or study in the US on temporary visas and in temporary positions, often financed by federal funds. What's the reaction in Germany? But while some might expect Germany's leading research institutions to move to sweep up top researchers from the US, so far they appear to be taking a softer approach. Tim Urban, press spokesman of the Leibniz Association, told DPA that he wouldn't pursue a 'targeted poaching of American colleagues,' because it 'risks weakening American science even further'. The Max Planck Society (MPG) aims to provide the so-called Transatlantic Program with more funding, which would open up options in Germany for scientists who cannot continue their research in the USA. Advertisement In response to a recent call for applications, the MPG received twice as many applications from the USA as in the previous year, President Patrick Cramer recently said in an interview with Der Spiegel . READ ALSO: 'We need dual citizenship' to support cutting edge research in Germany, says top scientist Meanwhile at German universities, the impact of the US' political shift is currently being felt. A spokeswoman for the University of Leipzig suggested there is an increase in interest among American partners for close cooperation. The Humboldt University in Berlin has reportedly received isolated direct inquiries from US scientists in recent weeks, as has RWTH Aachen University. "If the situation in the US gives rise to opportunities to strengthen the profile of Goethe University through suitable appointments, we will of course take advantage of them," said the press office of Frankfurt University. READ ALSO: 10 reasons to study in Germany Where's the funding? Of course, efforts within Germany to actively lure in top talent from the US could be expected to ramp up depending on developments on the US side – especially for researchers in fields that are being actively targeted by the Trump administration, such as climate, inequality and life sciences. But currently institutions in Germany, and really across Europe and the world, don't have the budget to support nearly as much research as the US had been supporting in recent decades. David Ho, an American oceanographer and climate researcher wrote on social media app Bluesky that, 'The US spends more on research and development than any other country in the world,' adding that if China and Japan are removed, the US spends almost as much as all other countries combined. Advertisement So for German institutions to have a real shot at attracting top researchers, they'll need to come up with significantly more funding for science. Some efforts are beginning to come together toward that end. For example, President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Robert Schlögl, announced that he would support more top researchers from the USA with appropriate financial support and grant them temporary residence and work opportunities. Also, in a guest article in Der Spiegel last month, leading German scientists called for the development of a so-called "Meitner-Einstein Program", to effectively poach outstanding researchers from the US for German universities and research institutions with financial backing from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. With reporting by DPA.
Newsroom
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsroom
Chidgey week: Catherine, in the beginning
Alison Wong: I first met Catherine in the early 1990s when we both took a community education creative writing class run by Chris and Barbara Else. As part of the course Chris took us through the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator test, explaining that our personality type influenced how we wrote. About half a dozen of us, including Catherine and myself, had the same personality type. Our profile said that with talent we could be outstanding novelists or character actors. Catherine and I met again in 1995 when we were both accepted for the Original Composition course at Victoria University. Bill Manhire was on sabbatical and the course was taken by Damien Wilkins. Catherine was working on the manuscript which would become In a Fishbone Church. When I finished reading it I had wet eyes. Her father, who had worked as a builder, was suffering from the lung condition portrayed in the novel. It wasn't an easy year for her, but it was clear she was a hard worker and a fine writer. She won the prize for best portfolio. Damien Wilkins: I remember her as poised, clear-headed, confident in her work, going places for sure. Bill and I read the applications for that class together and Catherine was an automatic yes, along with Kate Camp. She had Germany already in her back pocket, having spent time there on a DAAD scholarship, and she had death too. (Her father died that year.) I think this added to the kind of self-possession a novelist usually needs. If I think of that workshop, which also contained Claire Baylis and Alison Wong, as a high school cohort, then Kate Camp would be the naughty Games Prefect and Catherine would be the girl everyone knew was going to be Dux. Kate Camp: The notification that you'd got into the creative writing workshop was just a list of the 12 successful applicants. I'd applied under my full name – Catherine – so I looked down the list and saw Catherine – then Chidgey. Fuck. Then I saw right above it, Catherine Camp. So before the class had even begun, I felt a particular link with Catherine, forged in that momentary emotional rollercoaster. Getting into the course was a HUGE deal. Before the first workshop they sent out a pack that had a piece of writing from each member, from the portfolio we'd submitted to get in. As I recall it, Catherine's extract was a scene from what became In a Fishbone Church (or In a Fishy Church by Catherine Chidgebone which is how someone once asked for at Unity and I always enjoy thinking of the book that way.) In my memory, the scene was of a dream by one of the German neighbours, when she dreams her porcelain figures are exploding, and then the other woman wakes up with the pattern of an embroidered pillowcase flower on her face. Maybe it wasn't that scene, but whatever it was, I remember thinking, holy shit this Catherine Chidgey person is obviously already famous and I just haven't heard of her. It was a wonderful and incredibly finished-seeming piece of writing. Then we met in the class and I discovered Catherine was this very funny girl from the Hutt with long curly blonde hair – I had long curly brown hair in those days – the VUP hair as we called it eventually because Elizabeth Knox and Nick Ascroft made four. Did she have Doc Marten shoes with flowers on them? It's so hard to remember because we've been friends ever since and 1995 is a long time ago and there's been a lot of shoes under the bridge. I remember her walk – it's like a cute little march, she has a very practical walk and is in general extremely down to earth, which seems to cut against the pre-Raphaelite hair. I remember being impressed that she'd lived in Berlin, and done German and French at university. I can't remember when her Dad died, but it was around that time. So young! I remember her German boyfriend (ex-boyfriend?) sending a condolence card with the traditional black-edged envelope. So all in all I stand by my early impressions of Catherine – brilliant, funny and unpretentious. What I didn't know then but is now apparent to even the most casual observer is how driven she is – incredibly ambitious, focused and hard-working. Claire Baylis: I was in the Original Composition Course in 1995 with Catherine. It was an incredible cohort which also included Kate Camp, Alison Wong and Caren Wilton. I think the most remarkable thing is that she was already so much who she seems to be now – same trademark hair, same dry humour and a slight formality in her manner even as she wore her floral Doc Martens – but as an author too. She was one of the youngest on the course but approached writing with a surprising degree of maturity and dedication that was inspiring. Catherine's father was ill and died that year from memory, and yet she was utterly disciplined in completing the portfolio. She was working on some of the early drafts of stories that later became part of In a Fishbone Church and she had already found her voice as a writer even though she was only in her mid-twenties. Even then, she wrote with wit, an ability to convincingly inhabit narrators so different from herself (look where that took her!) and remarkable images that honestly have remained with me for all those years – like the fishbone church and the impression of a butterfly on a girl's cheek from an embroidered pillowcase. I know I learnt a lot from the depth and insight of her feedback and her trust in my potential, which was incredibly reassuring because it was obvious, even then, that she was going to be an astounding writer. Fergus Barrowman: My examiner's report on the 1995 undergrad workshop collection of short stories In a Fishbone Church: 'If it can be maintained at this level I think it stands every chance of finding a publisher.' God I was boring. Still am. Full credit to Harry Ricketts, who examined it and wrote, 'I really enjoyed this sequence of linked stories and ended up wondering if they aren't, in fact, part of a novel.' As they turned out to be in the MA class in 1997. Marie Duncan: I feel privileged to have been in the MA class with Catherine in 1997 and have always enjoyed our catchups over the years. Catherine was fun, good sense of humour. That amazing hair! She always spoke very warmly about her family and she was a very grounded person. She must have found our writings efforts quite trying but she was always encouraging. She is still the same Catherine we knew in 1997 despite her successes. What a writer. James Hollings: I was on the MA class with her in 1997. There definitely was something different about her. She seemed to operate on a whole different level. I remember at the time thinking that she already seemed to know she was going to be a published novelist. I remember once asking her what she thought I should write about, and she took a day or two before coming back with a very considered, thoughtful, and helpful response. That was kind, and shows the kind of attention to detail she has. At the time, she was writing In a Fishbone Church. It was well-advanced when she came onto the course. So there was a sense that she was just that much ahead of the rest of us – there didn't seem to be much doubt it was going to be published, and with VUP. There were some very good writers on that course – Laurence Fearnley, and Kapka Kassabova – but Catherine seemed to be next-level organised and determined, even above them. She seemed to have a strong family behind her – her mum, especially, from memory. She just had this sense of purpose, almost destiny about herself – this is what she was going to do. Laurence Fearnley: I was in the first intake of students for the MA in Creative Writing in 1997. We met in the English department, in the Von Zedlitz building. There were around 10 of us – all women except for James Hollings, who was working on fiction at the time (though he's better known for his nonfiction/ journalism). We were a mix of poets, short fiction, young adult fantasy, and novelists (though at that stage I'd only had a novella published). We were a very tight group, all very aware of the opportunity we had been given to work under Bill Manhire's mentorship. As a result we took the year, and the work, very seriously. In many ways it was our first time of being able to think of ourselves, or speak of ourselves as writers. Of all the people in the group Kapka Kassabova was probably the most forceful, and sure of her place in terms of the writing community. Catherine was writing In a Fishbone Church which she'd begun while doing an undergraduate creative writing paper so she was a bit further along than the rest of us, in terms of identifying and working on a project. She had a lot of part-time work in order to support herself. She'd sometimes arrive with blueberry muffins, which I think she brought from work. For as long as I've known her, Catherine has been equal parts kind and determined. One of the first things that struck me about her writing was 'how' she worked. She approached her novel in a much more planned out, and structured way than me. I think she worked out her chapters in advance, so always had an idea of the direction her work would take. This gave her novel a strong foundation upon which she could play with. So, the base was solid but the top was fluid. It was the opposite to how I worked and it was really interesting to watch as the year progressed. We were all equals in the class, so we gave and received feedback on one another's work in a proper workshop way. Catherine was no more or less vocal than anyone else. She was a careful reader and was very measured. I doubt she ever left a workshop wishing she had kept quiet or regretting some offhand remark. A lot of our real discussion took place outside class but although I remember spending a lot of time with Kapka, I didn't socialise with Catherine. We met more, socially, once she moved to Dunedin. She invited Emma Neale and me to her house in Ravensbourne which was a kind of 'Goth-Deco' place, beautifully decorated with her collection of antique and vintage beaded purses. Our sons were with us and she put on the most amazing afternoon tea, almost a high-tea, with art deco table-wear and tiered cake stands. She was so attentive to everyone. Another time I went with her and her boyfriend to see a documentary about Imelda Marcos' shoe collection. Her latest novel was The Transformation which I knew she had carefully researched and we talked about that. Her boyfriend was quite pompous and although supportive was kind of patronising and I thought Catherine wasn't appreciated for the talent she was/is. Fortunately, the relationship ended and I think her writing and personal life flourished afterwards, which is what she deserved. Bill Manhire: Catherine Chidgey was a member of the inaugural MA cohort at Victoria University, so we were all learning what to do. Of course there were other gifted writers in the group – like Johanna Aitchison, Laurence Fearnley, Kapka Kassabova, Rae Varcoe – who would go on to publish terrific work, but we all knew as the weeks went by that Catherine was working at a level all her own. Our job was simply to keep her company while she wrote her book. The newly published The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38), dedicated to Bill Manhire, is available in bookstores nationwide. ReadingRoom is devoting all week to the book and the author. Monday: Chapter 1 of the new novel. Tomorrow: the author is interviewed by Steve Braunias on the craft of fiction.
Al-Ahram Weekly
27-03-2025
- Science
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Al-Ahram Al-Arabi magazine receives Cairo Climate Talks Excellence Award - Society
Suzy El-Geneidy, Deputy Chief Editor of Al-Ahram Al-Arabi magazine, received the Cairo Climate Talks (CCT) Excellence Award for Outstanding Journalistic Coverage of Climate Change Issues and Coverage of the 2024 Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The CCT presented Al-Ahram Al-Arabi with the award at its annual award ceremony at the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) headquarters. The Cairo Climate Talks forum was established in 2011 as a collaborative project between the German Embassy in Cairo; the Egyptian Ministry of Environment; the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA); the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD); the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ); and the Egyptian-German Joint High Committee for Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency and Environmental Protection (JCEE). The CCT facilitates the exchange of views and visions among researchers, governments, the private sector, and civil society to discuss current environmental and climate protection issues. It strives to raise public awareness about environmental issues in Egypt. A statement from the forum indicated that it had received numerous submissions from journalists working in various media outlets across Egypt, covering environmental and climate change topics published in the Egyptian media over the past thirteen months. The statement added that the Cairo Forum's Environmental Journalism Award honoured distinguished journalists and media professionals in environmental journalism whose articles highlighted the critical role of the media in increasing awareness and Climate Action. Wafaa Farag won an award in the print journalism category for her article on environmental architecture, and Mahmoud El-Azba won an award in the online journalism category for his article on climate change and mental health. Loreen More, Head of the Scientific Section at the German Embassy in Cairo, honoured the 2024 award-winning journalists for their influential work in promoting environmental protection, combating climate change, and educating the public about the urgent need for continued action. At the awards ceremony, More said, "As we celebrate these distinguished journalists, we reaffirm the important role played by environmental journalism in today's world, where climate action has become more urgent than ever." Before the ceremony, a workshop was held, moderated by Ashraf Amin, the head of the science department at Al-Ahram daily. The workshop brought together journalists interested in the environment and science, who exchanged recommendations and proposed visions to increase public awareness of climate change and the role of the media in instilling a culture of environmental conservation through carefully considered messages to support plastic waste recycling activities and the transition to clean energy use. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
