universities

There are more than 1000 universities and about 1220  Universities of Applied
Science listed in the official guidebooks and web-sites. Unfortunately most of the information
 materials are available in German only, and admission in most cases is depending on 
language proficiency as well. While a few universities and  today offer programs
taught in English  in particular executive programs in selected business and science fields -
the vast majority of programs are taught in German, no matter whether they lead to a traditional
 university diploma or to one of the newer bachelor's and master's degrees which have
been introduced  .

At the universities, for many decades a master's level degree was the first degree available
and only the recent higher education reforms, which have introduced two level programs at both
the bachelor's and master's level have opened a chance to leave university earlier. The bachelor
's degree was introduced to avoid the drastic rates of non completer, which in some university
 subjects were as high as 85%. The  universities of applied science offer
shorter and more practice oriented programs. They generally lead to credentials at the bachelor'
s level, but more and more also offer master's programs for those students
eligible for further study. A number of colleges of art and music offer programs in these
reas.

Higher education in a more international setting and with English as the language of instruction

is offered by several American and British institutions. Some of these have established a campus
 of their own in , such as Schiller International University in Other
nstitutions operate in close cooperation with state institutions,for instance,
. There are also some newer  institutions,
one of which is that is founded and follows state approved
curricula. Some 'international' institutions are business units of large state
universities, such as  International University  attached to
Dresden, International Department  attache or Institute of Management & Technology attached to Universität

An enterprising new sector of private institutions in higher education has developed over the
last two decades. Some of these institutions follow international patterns with their curricula,
 such as,  in , or Internationale  Again, in some cases
with private universities, an English name of an institution does not automatically mean
that programs are taught in English. Another new development is the creation of corporate
universities, such as . Only few have reached a point beyond regular in service
 training, and in most cases corporate programs are open to employees only.