Academy and Studying in Germany

Just about anyone can attend lectures at a German university as a guest student. Although this does not entitle one to take a degree, the course fees are much lower, and one can attend virtually all lectures, which is why senior citizens in particular take advantage of this opportunity. This is not popular with all students.

If you ask Mario, a student of German in Cologne, what annoys him most about the lectures at his university, you may be surprised by the answer. It is not the contents of the lectures that bother the 23-year-old, nor the way the lecturers present their classes, but rather “the white wall which often sits right at the front. It can really put your patience to the test at times.”

The Majorca feeling

What Mario means by “the white wall” are the ranks of guest students – senior citizens, most of them with grey or white hair – who like to sit in the front rows of the lecture theatres. “In some lectures I feel like I’m by the hotel pool in Majorca”, complains the student of German: “The best seats are simply kept free with items of clothing, some old guy reserving five seats for his OAP pals.”

If one is to believe reputable German daily and weekly newspapers such as Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Focus, the “generational conflict” between young students and older guest students has been a problem at German universities for years. The younger students complain that the seniors occupy the best seats and annoy them with their irrelevant questions, know-it-all manner or seemingly endless comments.

It is true that the number of mature guest students has been growing constantly for decades. According to a study carried out in spring 2009 by the Federal Statistical Office, almost one in two of the nearly 37,000 guest students at universities throughout Germany is now over 60 years old. Ten years ago the figure was still only 40 percent. But is this really a burden that has a “destructive” effect on everyday university life, as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung claimed in March 2009?

Guest students excluded from lectures for reasons of data protection

“A generational conflict is not an issue for us”, says Dr Miriam Haller, director of the guest and mature student programme at Cologne University. Years ago, her university established firm rules, making introductory events a fixed part of the programme for guest students. “We tell them quite clearly that our university suffers from a shortage of space, so guest students are not entitled to a seat.” Guest students wishing to attend seminars must first consult with the lecturer in question. “In case of doubt”, says Haller, “the regular students are given priority in seminars.”

According to Haller, the fact that guest students are excluded from some medical lectures at Cologne University has nothing to do with keeping senior citizens out of the highly popular courses, as the press likes to conjecture. “It is simply for reasons of patient confidentiality. If a patient and their disease is presented in a lecture, this information is intended for the ears of matriculated students only.” In fact, Cologne University believes it is important to promote a mix of young and older students. “In many seminars, the additional knowledge and experience of older students can be an advantage.”

Berlin provides guest student programmes as a precautionary measure

The Free University (FU) in Berlin also denies any knowledge of a generational problem. “We are convinced that the mature guest students enable a dialogue between generations that benefits everyone”, explains Felicitas Wlodyga, director of the Guest Card Programme. From talking to lecturers she is also well aware that senior citizens prefer to sit in the front rows, yet this is only tolerated to a limited extent.

“It is quite clear: guest students are guests”, emphasizes Wlodyga. “The students have absolute priority in the lectures. If necessary, our lecturers will intervene, but in most cases the situation sorts itself out.” In Berlin, however, precautions have also been taken to ensure that lectures are not inundated with guest students: “Art history is a particularly popular subject among older people, so we now offer around 150 courses that are intended exclusively for guest students.”

Munich bans senior citizens if necessary

The Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich reacts sensitively to queries about a possible generational problem, requesting that journalists submit their questions in writing. One member of the university’s teaching staff even wrote an article about the generational conflict that appeared in a national newspaper. “That is amazing”, says Alexander, who is a student in Munich himself, “as I do not know a single student in any of my lectures who would give any long-term thought to something as trivial as occupied seats.”

Professor Lorenz Welker, director of the Munich Senior Students Centre, finds it unfortunate that the lecturer’s newspaper report contains “a whole series of inaccuracies”. In most cases, he says, there are “no problems in jointly attended lectures”. Occasional conflicts in particularly popular subjects are defused by providing large enough lecture theatres and by the lecturers themselves. As a last resort, “all lecturers are free to close their lectures to senior citizens, yet advantage is only rarely taken of this possibility.”

“Typical situation of working together”

Banning senior citizens from lectures is excessive even in the opinion of Mario, the student in Cologne, who stresses: “Long-drawn-out answers or an occupied front row annoy me briefly, but no negative feelings linger.” He does not believe there is any general generational conflict: “That is not a generational conflict, but simply the typical situation of working together.”