Get your act together!

The Bologna Process has left behind a regimented university system in which students frantically scramble from module to module. Seminars are endured, examination periods survived and essays written, whilst the standard period of study looms like a sword of Damocles overhead. In Germany, ever higher educational qualifications are continuously being pursued and universities are bursting at the seams. Whilst the proportion of graduates with a school-leaving certificate in 2006 was still 34 per cent, it has risen to 43 per cent within ten years. This mass education at German universities means that more and more students feel exposed to enormous competitive pressure. In order to distinguish themselves from their fellow students and improve their own career prospects, many throw themselves into tunnel vision. Career milestones are worked through like a to-do list: good grades, language skills, international experience, internships, extracurricular engagement. Passion initially plays no role. Learning information by rote and meeting external expectations, on the other hand, seem to represent a promising strategy. 

What our education system often leaves behind are traumatised, incapable university graduates, shaped by elitist ideals and cut-throat mentality. Students are supposed to function as efficiently and conformably as possible, have their career goal clearly in sight and, if possible, still meet social expectations. They are supposed to meet friends, do sport and enjoy the 'time of their lives' until the real working life begins. However, the reality for German students often looks different. According to studies, almost every second student seriously considers dropping out of their studies, out of fear of not studying the right subject or not being up to the demands. The causes for this certainly lie in various places. However, it is strongly to be assumed that our university system itself is often partly responsible for students' unhappiness. Regimented structures, as well as the presumably often existing expectations of employers and parents, influence the study quality of many. Balance is often sought in counter-movements such as excessive nights out or in the form of a Netflix marathon. Much time and space to discover and get to know oneself seem not to remain.

It is of enormous importance that students not only develop professionally but also personally during their studies and that they also use and are allowed to use the diverse opportunities that exist alongside their studies. The future needs young people who question the world and who may be able to adapt to the system, but do not simply disappear smoothly into it and become part of the bland mass of faces that no one will remember. The future needs creative minds and lateral thinkers, empathetic people who look beyond their own horizons. It needs individuals who know their own strengths and stand up for their convictions. Yes, good grades help because they are often an indication of diligence and knowledge, language skills enable contact with other cultures, understanding them, and internships point to professional experience, as well as social engagement pointing to humanity. But we are more than a favourably arranged CV and we must celebrate that! The constant pursuit of efficiency and standardisation may make our society function better at first glance, but it simultaneously destroys innovation and individuality. 

So when you next put together your courses and wonder whether you have enough ECTS points, think about whether there is something that particularly interests you right now. Perhaps learning Catalan, a painting course or the astronomy lecture? Don't let yourself be held back if the benefit is initially unclear to you and immerse yourself a bit in what this world has to offer you. Living means learning new things. And by that I definitely do not mean being able to reproduce arbitrary information. I mean acquiring things through curiosity and interest, making them your own. Let them touch you, let them change you and in doing so change not only your life, but also a little bit of our world.

 Anika Scheffler