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The start of my part-time bachelor’s degree at the Frankfurt School in 2008 was not just the beginning of an education, but a daring jump to escape the abyss of poverty. Not impossible in Germany, but ‘against all odds’ as they say. The career-integrated degree programme not only provides excellent training but is also an important instrument for educational equality and the permeability of our social strata.
A plea in favour of dual university education.
Germany’s social equality of opportunity is often criticised. Studies have been analysing the problem for decades: educational success and careers are more linked to the educational level and social class of parents than to one’s intelligence and motivation compared to other Western countries1,2.
Like many others, I was the first university student in a family in which nobody held a higher education. Nevertheless, I entered secondary school (Gymnasium) despite adverse circumstances. There are certainly parents who are uneducated but socially cultivated and who help their children in a self-sacrificing way. As the divorced child of an alcoholic mother and a father who remarried an alcoholic woman, the shuffling between the parents with six changes of school including repeating classes, fate had thrown additional problems into the cradle.
However, motivation can go a long way in Germany: our school system is free and, unlike in some countries, there is no need to switch to private schools. After escaping my parents’ house, I secured my living through a combination of child benefits, alimony payments, and flea market trading while finishing my A-levels.
However, the real problems begin afterwards, when education increasingly costs not only time but also money and the path leads to the big cities – there are considerable limits to the possibilities of precarious incomes.
My banking apprenticeship postponed the problem for three years until another income solution was needed so that my wife and I could live and study together.
The career-integrated study model together with Commerzbank was the ideal solution to attain a university education. Unlike the school system, a private university can offer substantial added value. However, the associated costs naturally promote social segregation.
By contrast, working part-time as a qualified bank clerk with my employer sharing the costs was a stable platform for advancing my studies and my life planning even without assets or parental help, including the birth (and affordability…!) of our first child towards the end of my studies.
At the same time, this path was a real game changer for social advancement: the Bachelor’s degree, supported by the practical experience gained, was not only the basis for an entry into investment banking, but also for a post-experience Master’s degree at London Business School and enabled excellent development as an analyst at Rothschild, which ultimately led to a move to Goldman Sachs.
The path from scrap collector and flea market trader to investment banker is an unusual story of life. However, in a world of statistically equally distributed intelligence, it should occur more frequently.
In retrospect, this butterfly effect shows how important it is to build up an educational and professional career in stages. This is precisely what makes the careers of talented young people without financial resources vulnerable. The career-integrated university degree programme forges a strong and socially important bridge to overcome this gap.
Unfortunately, employer interest in dual study programmes has declined compared to the past. Many employers who promote expensive part-time study programmes experience young talent leaving. This is not an argument against dual study programmes, but rather an incentive to investigate the causes within the company if career prospects following a top-level education do not provide sufficient opportunities for graduates to stay.
Career-integrated higher education enriches all stakeholders through the interlinked theory-practice bridge and the usually seamless career entry after graduation. The combination of a full-time academic degree programme with a part-time role is a milestone in German educational excellence that provides a variety of paths in both research and industry. The double burden is repaid to each student through strong personal development and the proven ability to cope with tasks that are not compatible with a 40-hour week.
The social function of this study pathway is too often overlooked: Dual higher education is a catalyst that promotes the permeability of social strata and thus makes an important contribution to equal social opportunities. This means that employers and universities have a social responsibility to offer this pathway to young people and, above all, to publicize it to educationally disadvantaged groups.
The focus on socially disadvantaged applicants is worthwhile: as a mentor at Arbeiterkind, I helped students to find their way into university. One thing unites almost all of them: their outstanding motivation to improve their lives. Employers should look for these talents – the burning motivation of young people striving for a higher goal in life is usually not reflected in their CVs and yet is often the biggest factor for top performance. A dual higher education programme is the key to developing these talents for the enrichment of society.
Frankfurt School gGmbH
Adickesallee 32-34
60322 Frankfurt am Main
