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I work as a researcher in a German university and also have 4h per week teaching obligation. Our program is international and in English, all students are treat

I work as a researcher in a German university and also have 4h per week teaching obligation. Our program is international and in English, all students are treated equally. A significant part of the teaching staff is also not from Germany. I have never encountered the practices that you mention. If one of my students would describe the problems you mentioned (especially exploitation by university staff) I would encourage them to file a complaint with the university. It is probably highly dependent on the university and program. If you are unsure, contact the study association ('Fachschaft') of the program and ask some foreign students about their experiences before applying.

erikb 10y ago
Agreed. Not all universities will be like this bad. But I think to some degree it will happen everywhere. Complaining is something I also always suggested, but now that I've experienced real life outside school/university for some time I'm not sure about that any more. For instance, you have a lot of rights here, but I found in my own experience that you only have the rights you know you have and you know how to enforce. In another country I know less about my rights and how to enforce them. Also you often don't know how much different people profit from the current situation as it is. For instance, if the president would directly profit from the ridiculously high rents of the foreign students all he would care about is keeping the situation quiet. A complaint may yield absolutely nothing or worse.
- danieldk 10y ago
  For instance, you have a lot of rights here, but I found in my own experience that you only have the rights you know you have and you know how to enforce. That is definitely true, for foreigners this starts at an even more basic level - all the relevant regulations are written in (bureaucratic) German. So, even if you want to read up on your rights, it can be difficult, unless you have near-native reading comprehension. Luckily, there seem to be positive changes in this area. E.g. our faculty is now translating the exam regulations for English programs.
  - erikb 10y ago
    Sounds really good!

erikb 10y ago

Agreed. Not all universities will be like this bad. But I think to some degree it will happen everywhere. Complaining is something I also always suggested, but now that I've experienced real life outside school/university for some time I'm not sure about that any more. For instance, you have a lot of rights here, but I found in my own experience that you only have the rights you know you have and you know how to enforce. In another country I know less about my rights and how to enforce them. Also you often don't know how much different people profit from the current situation as it is. For instance, if the president would directly profit from the ridiculously high rents of the foreign students all he would care about is keeping the situation quiet. A complaint may yield absolutely nothing or worse.

danieldk 10y ago
For instance, you have a lot of rights here, but I found in my own experience that you only have the rights you know you have and you know how to enforce. That is definitely true, for foreigners this starts at an even more basic level - all the relevant regulations are written in (bureaucratic) German. So, even if you want to read up on your rights, it can be difficult, unless you have near-native reading comprehension. Luckily, there seem to be positive changes in this area. E.g. our faculty is now translating the exam regulations for English programs.
- erikb 10y ago
  Sounds really good!