What is a Fachhochschule ?
Whilst foreign students will have no problems imagining what a university or technical college is, Fachhochschulen are a German speciality, with only a very short tradition to look back on. Nevertheless, the Fachhochschulen are enjoying a rapid increase in popularity; a quarter of all students now decide to begin their higher education career at a Fachhochschule. The number of students studying at the Fachhochschulen is already three times as high as when they were founded. 35 per cent of all higher education graduates now come from a Fachhochschule. In some areas, such as engineering, more than half of the graduates came from a Fachhochschule.