Studying Psychology in Germany Birgit Spinath & Sebastian Stehle, Heidelberg University

1. Universities and Admission Psychology can be studied at 44 public universities with 690 psychology professors. Admission depends mainly on final school grades. Institutions can also select through entry exams. Most universities charge no tuition fees. Some states recently introduced a fee of €500 per semester. Studying Psychology in GermanyBirgit Spinath & Sebastian Stehle, Heidelberg University Students About 30.000 students are enrolled as psychology majors. About 70-80% of the students are female. Moreover, psychology is often chosen as a minor in combination with a variety of other subjects (e.g., pedagogy, economics, sports). Finally, psychology is a mandatory element of teacher education in Germany. At many universities, teacher students are the largest group, so that several thousand future teachers study at least a minimum of psychology at university. By now, most universities changed from the diploma degree to bachelor’s and master’s degrees. • 1st Level: Bachelor – Provides a broad basis on different fields of basic and applied research and methodology. The bachelor degree qualifies for a broad spectrum of vocational fields. Courses include general psychology (split in two I - perception and cognition, II – emotion and motivation), developmental psychology, personality psychology, social psychology, physiology, statistics, research methods, clinical psychology, educational psychology and industrial and organizational psychology. • 2nd Level: Master – Provides an in-depth education on one or more fields of psychological research and application. About 80% of all psychology students acquire a master degree (the master degree is the equivalent to the former diploma). Depending on the profile of the psychology department, master programmes are either broad or specialized in fields such as clinical, educational, industrial/organizational psychology), neuopsychology or others. • New courses of study have to be accredited by national agencies. Degrees and Curricula Employment About 55% of psychology professionals work in clinical psychology, 19% in industrial or organisational psychology, 15% in the filed of teaching and research, 5% in forensic psychology, 4% in school psychology, 2% in other fields. According to a survey among psychology graduates, one year after graduation almost all work in their desired psychological field. That means, there is almost no unemployment among psychologists in Germany. Author contact details: Prof. Dr. Birgit Spinath, Heidelberg University, Hauptstraße 47-51, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany, e-Mail: birgit.spinath@uni-hd.de Dipl.-Psych. Sebastian Stehle, Heidelberg University, Hauptstraße 47-51, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany, e-Mail: sebastian.stehle@uni-hd.de • www.europlat.org • EUROPLAT: European Network for Psychology Learning and Teaching Funded with support from the European Commission. Reference 155981-LLP-1-2009-1-UKERASMUS-ENWA