Gütersloh/Schwerin (dpa/mv) – Every eighth student in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania completes part-time studies in order to gain further qualifications alongside work, childcare or caring for relatives. According to an evaluation by the Center for Higher Education Development (CHE), 12.7 percent of all students in the north-east were enrolled in this way in the 2020/2021 winter semester. That was third place in a comparison of the federal states.
The evaluation, which will be presented on Thursday, is available from the German Press Agency and is based on the latest information from the Federal Statistical Office. More recent data are not available. Nationwide, the part-time student rate was 7.8 percent.
Those who study part-time often do so as distance learners. The part-time students are unevenly distributed regionally, which is due to large locations such as the distance learning university in Hagen in North Rhine-Westphalia or the distance learning university in Hamburg. Hamburg therefore has a top rate of part-time students at 21.1 percent. North Rhine-Westphalia follows in second place with 13.3 percent, followed by MV with 12.7 percent. In Baden-Württemberg, on the other hand, the rate is only 2.6 percent, in Schleswig-Holstein 1.8 percent and in Saarland 0.5 percent.
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Wismar University of Applied Sciences, through its Wings subsidiary, is an important provider of distance learning courses – where the part-time students can often be found. According to their own statements, more than 5,600 distance students are currently using the offers of Wings GmbH – a record value since it was founded in 2004. According to CHE, more than every second student at Wismar University (55.5 percent) is enrolled as a part-time student. At the two state universities in Greifswald and Rostock, on the other hand, there are practically none.
Nationwide, the number of people completing part-time studies is increasing. Compared to the 2019/2020 winter semester, there was an increase of 3.6 percent in 2020/21.
The majority of part-time students are enrolled at just three of the approximately 400 universities across Germany. There are 54,364 part-time students at the FOM University of Applied Sciences with its headquarters in Essen in North Rhine-Westphalia, 50,287 at the Fern-Universität in Hagen and 12,021 at the Hamburger Fern-Universität.
The Center for Higher Education Development (CHE) based in Gütersloh is a joint, non-profit subsidiary of the Bertelsmann Foundation and the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) of state-recognized universities in Germany.
