Degree level apprenticeships in Germany?

There are lots of vocational training programs that people can get into after school but I don't know what you mean by a degree level. People might become a “meister” in their trade but this is still not the same as a university degree. One does not become a mechanical engineer for example without a University degree in Engineering. A mechanically minded person could become a car mechanic or mechanic for other kinds of vehicles or machinery. But they are still not an engineer. I rather suspect you don't find anything in the internet because what you seem to be looking for doesn't really exist.

And why would companies want to take unskilled workers that don't speak German and train them? I can imagine a company taking English speakers and getting their language up to par if they are already trained and skilled employees in a field lacking enough qualified personnel. It seems many IT specialists manage to get jobs in Germany without speaking German but they must already be educated and have work experience. There is such a shortage of nurses that foreign nurses are being recruited. And there are even programs that will take a foreigner without good German, add specific job related language training and then continue with a normal nurse training. But such a thing is limited to such jobs with an acute shortage.

The whole apprenticeship system in Germany is meant as alternative to a university degree. Thus what you call "degree apprenticeship" (a term I never heard of) does probably not exist.
There are many professions that can be learned through vocational training in an apprenticeship - and some companies might accept (and support by additional language classes) as apprentice foreign applicants without German language skills, but this is an individual arrangement and not the norm. In any case, an apprenticeship includes classroom training at so-called "Berufsschulen" (vocational training schools) and this is always in German - if you cannot follow the classes, you will fail the exams and subsequently lose your apprenticeship.

Thanks for replies.

In the UK there is such thing as degree apprenticeships, US as well I think. Similar to the German dual vocational system, except with study at degree level. I assumed this would exist in Germany but I see I was wrong.

The cases I heard of companies hiring English speakers were companies that had headquarters in English speaking countries. They would be trained in Germany, then work in there respective countries. By knowing both languages they could communicate between countries easier.

Hi all.

Vocational training and qualifications went down a storm in the UK (and the US) because it was seen as a method of delivering training at much less cost (no infrastructure to pay for and no people to worry about pension and social costs).

I left the military 25 years ago with an NVQ level 7 qualification and spoke reasonable German; one thing that became apparent very quickly was that NVQ's are only good if the person who is going to take you on recognises them; the airline I was talking to had never heard of them, no job offer.  I ended up going back to the UK and doing a proper degree which on the face of the qualification scheme was a lesser Level 5 qualification, but was accepted worldwide.

The lesson from this, if you want to be an engineering manager in Germany, learn German and get recognised educational qualification, not vocational stuff that most countries have never heard of.

Just to add, from my own experience, there are some EU generated professions in Transport and Distribution that have produced EU/UN wide qualifications, one is for Transport Manager, the other is for Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser; if you have either UK qualification, it will be accepted in Germany - you still have to have a German language qualification though and there are very few jobs that have those as a sole role.

You are probably talking about "Duales Studium", which is a full (and recognised) university course coupled with on-the-job training in a company, offered by both in conjunction (meaning both the university AND the company must accept you).
I have no idea whether there are any such courses offered in English, but maybe this website can tell you (only in German, though):
www.wegweiser-duales-studium.de

beppi wrote:

You are probably talking about "Duales Studium", which is a full (and recognised) university course coupled with on-the-job training in a company, offered by both in conjunction (meaning both the university AND the company must accept you).
I have no idea whether there are any such courses offered in English, but maybe this website can tell you (only in German, though):
www.wegweiser-duales-studium.de

That's it exactly, thanks for the link I'll take a look.

It seems there aren't many options for foreigners, which is to be expected.

I suppose it would be possible to move to Germany, get acquainted with the language to a recognised level, then apply for such Duales Studium. I imagine this would be a difficult path to take, especially financially.

I'm taking time to guage what options I have at the moment. Doing something like this does sound like an amazing way to go about things, but I acknowledge there's a lot of details I can't expect untill in a situation like this.

There are just as many options for foreigners as for locals - no discrimination here!
You normally need C1 level German to enter university, which can be achieved in a year with a good teacher and lots of hard work - but two years is more realistic.

ZechThomp wrote:

beppi wrote:

You are probably talking about "Duales Studium", which is a full (and recognised) university course coupled with on-the-job training in a company, offered by both in conjunction (meaning both the university AND the company must accept you).
I have no idea whether there are any such courses offered in English, but maybe this website can tell you (only in German, though):
www.wegweiser-duales-studium.de

That's it exactly, thanks for the link I'll take a look.

It seems there aren't many options for foreigners, which is to be expected.

I suppose it would be possible to move to Germany, get acquainted with the language to a recognised level, then apply for such Duales Studium. I imagine this would be a difficult path to take, especially financially.

There are some university programs taught in English. But they tend to be in certain fields instead of a broad offering. And most of such programs are for Masters rather than Bachelors and generally in private universities, which all have tuition - rather than public universities which are free for German residents and EU-citizens. And it is questionable to do an English taught program if one intends to stay in Germany long run and work in a profession where the jobs might demand fluent German anyway. Some foreigners come, get a degree taught in English and then are shocked to see that there are no corresponding jobs available if they didn't learn German. Better to either learn German and then do a German taught program – or to learn German parallel to doing an English taught degree. This might mean getting to B1 or B2 but not necessarily getting to C1 which might be required to study. Many English speakers arrive in Germany and see that they can survive well enough without speaking German well. But for long term opportunities both professionally and socially they will be very limited if they don't get fairly fluent in the local language

tominstuttgart knows this country very well..... i came in with masters studies... and i have a question, is German ausbildung recognized worldwide for workforce in other countries? in case someone decide to move to another country

@charles Germo Official recognition varies from country to country - those that do not have a similar apprenticeship system would not know what to compare it with!

And apart from official recognition, private employers of course decide for themselves what to accept and what not. No general rule exists here!