Study without Abitur: Leuphana in high demand in Lower Saxony
2023-03-30 Lüneburg. Leuphana University Lüneburg is the most attractive university in Lower Saxony for students without a high school diploma. This is shown by an evaluation of the latest available data by the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE) in Gütersloh. According to this, 39 first-year students without an Abitur or Fachhochschulreife enrolled at Lüneburg University in 2021. This corresponds to a good 6 percent of students without an Abitur in Lower Saxony - the highest figure among Lower Saxony's universities. The universities of Oldenburg and Osnabrück follow in the next places. Looking at all types of higher education institutions, the Jade University of Applied Sciences with campuses in Wilhelmshaven, Oldenburg and Elsfleth has the highest proportion in the state with more than 14 percent of students without Abitur.
In this context, University President Sascha Spoun refers to the differentiated admission procedure at Leuphana College: "Our extraordinary admission system, with which we want to attract particularly committed students to our university, also proves its worth for prospective students without Abitur." To do this, one should not only look at Abitur grades, but also ask with what attitude and with what interests applicants approach their studies, Spoun continued.
Lower Saxony is a pioneer in studying without Abitur or Fachhochschulreife. It is one of the few federal states that opened its higher education system to those with vocational qualifications as early as the 1970s. The universities and universities of applied sciences in Lower Saxony have a corresponding amount of experience in this area.
The CHE determined the data for the whole of Germany. According to the centre, the number of students without Abitur or Fachhochschulreife has more than doubled since 2011, from around 32,200 to 70,338 in 2021. This corresponds to a good 2 percent of the total student body. New highs have also been recorded for the year 2021 in the number of first-year students without an Abitur.