Help, I need help with German Universities
 

What do you know about Wirtschafts-und Verwaltungs Akademie in Munich and The JFK Berufskolleg in Oberefflingen? I am interviewing a graduate of these two schools and need to know what these schools are like. Thanks

Maybe this will help some.

http://www.vwa-gruppe.de/index?mySID...EMENT=Englisch

You could ask the Goethe institute in the nearest capital city. Please see www.goethe.de/dindex.htm

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McSmith,

Never heard of those specific schools... but neither are universities in the conventional sense.

In Germany, universities are all state-owned and are called "Universität", although some other schools for higher education ("Fachhochschulen" for example) offer degrees (most often in business admin.) which are accredited by US certification bodies (for whatever that's worth).

JFK Berufskolleg in Oberefflingen:
A Berufskolleg is not a university at all: it's a vocational HIGH SCHOOL, which delivers a diploma granting access to institutes of higher learning other than universities. For access to universities, a student must attend a "Gymnasium" and pass the "Abitur" examinations.

Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungsakademie Munich:
A Verwaltungs- und Wirtschaftsakademie (VWA) - I assume that's what the candidate is refering to - is a public "open university" for business administration and IT management which has evening courses for people who are already working.
Here's the site for the one in Munich:
www.vwa.mhn.de

Not to say that this person is necessarily a dimwit - he/she just doesn't have a "real" university degree. This is actually quite common in Germany - even for higher level execs - since the vocational (on the job) training system is much more developed than in the US.

Hope this helps,
Andre

Andre: Thank you, Danke(?). This is very valuable information. Now I can interview this candidate with some useful background knowledge. I really appreciate your thoughtful response. Kathy

Kathy,

You're very welcome (bitte sehr).

Hope the interview works out - don't be too hard on the kid ;-)

Andre