Foto: Adobe StockMore than a quarter of a million people in Germany are currently enrolled in distance learning programmes, most of them at private universities. Although distance learning programmes are sometimes associated with high tuition costs of often more than 2,000 euros per semester, the number of distance learning students has risen in recent years. This is shown in a recent publication by CHE expert Marc Hüsch.
Boom in student numbers in distance learning programmes
Between the winter semesters of 2006/07 and 2022/23, the number of distance learning students in Germany almost quadrupled. According to the latest publications available from the Federal Statistical Office, their number is more than 250,000, which corresponds to around 9 per cent of all students.
More than half of the students are spread across two providers. With 76,279 students, around a third of all distance learning students in Germany were enrolled at the private, state-recognised IU International University in the winter semester 2022/23. A further 62,633 distance learning students enrolled at the state-run FernUniversität in Hagen.
There are many offers, especially in management
Marc Hüsch from the CHE Centre for Higher Education has analysed data on supply and demand for distance learning in Germany for an article in the scientific journal Beiträge zur Hochschulforschung.
‘There are several reasons for the boom in distance learning, especially in recent years. Among other things, the COVID-19 years and the corresponding expansion of study programmes that can be completed from home have played a major role in the increased demand,’ says Marc Hüsch. In addition, private providers in particular have focussed on the target group of working people, for whom a flexible distance learning course can be easily combined with work.
There is a particularly wide range of programmes in the field of economics and business administration. At 355, more than a third of the 1,006 study programmes for distance learning students in the HRK Higher Education Compass are in this field. An analysis of the degree programme names showed a concentration of courses that focus on management and business aspects. In contrast, there are only 15 degree programmes in civil engineering, for example.
Large differences in study costs per semester
In addition to supply and demand, CHE data expert Hüsch also analysed study costs. The median cost per semester for distance learning programmes in Germany is 2,207 euros. However, there are major differences between the individual distance learning programmes. While state institutions often only charge one semester fee, as is the case with traditional face-to-face study programmes, private providers in particular often charge four-figure amounts per semester.
Although distance learning eliminates the costs of living at the place of study or commuting to campus, financing should be well planned, advises Marc Hüsch: ‘In many Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes, total costs of more than 10,000 euros can be expected for distance learning.’
Distance learning distorts official statistics for the federal states
In his analysis, Marc Hüsch draws attention to a side effect of the boom in distance learning that has received little attention to date: ‘With a total number of more than 250,000 distance learning students, these should actually now be reported separately – as a kind of 17th federal state. Until now, they have been categorised in the higher education statistics as belonging to the federal state in which the respective distance learning university has its headquarters. This creates a distortion effect, especially for states such as Thuringia, Saarland and Hamburg. Of the official 136,000 students in Thuringia, around 77,000 are distance learning students at IU, most of whom probably do not even live in Thuringia.
When analysing higher education statistics, Marc Hüsch therefore advises, for example, to take into account the distorting country effect caused by large proportions of distance learning students, or to use data directly adjusted for distance learning students.
About the publication:
Data from the Federal Statistical Office for the winter semester 2022/23 and the HRK’s Higher Education Compass as of July 2023 were analysed for the research article „Trend zum Fernstudium: Überblick über das aktuelle Studienangebot, die Entwicklung der Studierendenzahlen und Implikationen für die Hochschulforschung“ (‘Trend towards distance learning: Overview of the current range of courses, the development of student numbers and implications for higher education research’). The article was published in the journal ‘Beiträge zur Hochschulforschung’, volume 46, issue 02/2024 (only available in German). The author of the analysis is Marc Hüsch, Senior Expert for Statistics and Data Visualisation at the CHE Centre for Higher Education.