Before studying in Germany for undergraduate programms, foreign students must check if they need to visit "STUDIENKOLLEG" or not!

Indonesian speakers could check my other article with the same content here!

Hello dear Steemians, how are you ^_^…

The topic of my article today is: “Studienkolleg“.

1. Studienkolleg, what is it?

Not every high school graduates from foreign countries could directly be admitted into a German University. Most highschool diplomas from 3rd world country are not acknowledged in Germany so the graduates from those school need to pass the “FSP” (Festellungsprüfung  a test carried by the Studienkolleg in an accredited University). A “Studienkolleg” is a preparation course for those foreign students before they can do the test.

In general we can say that high school diplomas from industry nations would be acknowledged and could be used to study in Germany without having to pass the “FSP”, but there are also exceptional cases.
High school graduates from USA for example are not always entitled to the right for an undergraduate study in Germany without visiting “Studienkolleg”, there are some further requirements to it depend on the art.
Perhaps it has something to do with the wide flexibility in the education system there, so that the students could choose any class and subject they want to learn.
That’s why there is a probability that a student has finished high school without passing the exams in each required subjects for a particular major in German University.
(But this is only my assumption because I never live in USA nor have a family member living and spent school there to make me know well enough about how the basic education system in this country.
I would welcome any further explanation about this topic from you my Steemit-Friends in the comment section below, because some other readers might need those information. Who knows?).

To explain it shortly I can give a little example in these following screenshots I’ve made from the website of Anabin for the country USA.

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In those pictures you can see which subjects and with which point you have taken during your school period. And you could also see that some additional test you've passed during high school period, for example "SAT", would also make a difference.

So the conclusion is like this:
To know the details about the requirements to apply for an admission in any German University for a particular major according to your diplomas and its content, you could check by yourself in the website I would give you in the closing of this article. All you need to do just choose the country where you got your diploma, and all the relevant information would be available for you to study.
This is enough to inform you whether the kind of diploma in your possession gives you a possibility to study in Germany at all.
The next step if the answer is “Yes”, then you can get your diplomas officially examined and you would know, how your grade be valued here in Germany so that you’d find out more, which further requirements you finally need to fulfil and whether you are eligible to study in that particular major in the University you like.
To study medicine for example, you might need at least the grade “1.3 - 1” or “A- to A” according to USA-System.
If you belong to those who need to pass the “FSP” in a Studienkolleg, then the grade from your old diploma would be added to the grade you get in your “FSP” and an average grade would be made out of them.

2. If your high school diploma requires you to pass “FSP” before submitting into undergraduate study in German University, is there anyhow a possibility to skip Studienkolleg?

If you think you have an exceptional intelligence, you could try to ask directly to the University, whether you are allowed to do the exam as an external participant (means, without visiting the preparation class first).
However I should remind you that you’re only allowed to repeat the exam once next semester/year if you failed the test. FSP has somehow a comparable standard with the high school national exam in Germany, and as a foreigner who need to pass it in German, that is definitely not an easy task. There are plenty enough students who visit the preparation course have failed miserably. :-)

Furthermore, there are not many majors in Germany which offer classes in English for undergraduate degree. But yes, you still can find any, just check it out by yourself in the website of DAAD. There you can find which University offers which major in English.
However if you choose a major which has all class taught in German, then you need to pass German Language Test in level C1.
That’s an arduous task too for a foreigner. :-D
So most students would have to visit Studienkolleg to learn German and pass FSP for German subject anyway, unless you had managed to pass the TestDAF-Exam in any Goethe Institut.
IMHO, TestDAF-Exam is more difficult to pass than FSP and it’s not so cheap either. ^_^

3. How long one need to learn in Studienkolleg?

That’s a good question. 
Some Studienkollegs only provides 2 semester for each student for all the necessary subjects including German language and don’t allow the students to repeat the class, but one is still allowed to repeat the final exam once, if one failed.
So in this case, one need to study again at home or get a private teacher to help while waiting for the next exam schedule next year.
Some other Studienkolleg provide 3 semesters: the first semester is only to visit German class, and the 2nd semester is still a German class and additional classes for other subjects.
The 3rd semester is only for the other required subjects. This is with an assumption that one is good enough to pass every exam in each semester.
If one has failed in any subject, then one need to repeat that subject once in the following semester, so it’s possible that one would spend a long time in Studienkolleg before finally manage to obtain the certificate needed to submit in a German University or just failed miserably and must go back home.

4. How about the financing issue?

There are Studienkolleg provided by University which is financed by the government, and there are of course also private Studienkollegs.
If you manage to be submitted into the first one, then you need not concern about tuition fee, for more information about this you can check my old article here.
But if you didn’t get this luck and want to learn in a private Studienkolleg, then make sure that this Studienkolleg is accredited.

By the way, if you’re studying in a Studienkolleg provided by a Fachhochschule (University of Applied Science, your certificate would only allow you to be submitted into a “Fachhochschule” as well.
Of course you’re still free to apply in any Fachhochschule in any state in Germany but you’re not allowed to apply for a University.
The other way around, the certificate you obtain from a University Studienkolleg gives you right to be submitted in both University and Fachhochschule.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that the Studienkolleg of Fachhochschule has worse value, but it rather has something to do with the main focus in the teaching.

Fachhochschule focus more on practice, real experience in the industry, so you would have more projects to do during the study with a lot of team work and some compulsory internship, whereas the University focus more in theory, requires less real experience in the industry world. So to simplify this, the fresh graduates from a Fachhochschule would be more prepared to work than the fresh graduates from a University.
However frankly speaking, this difference might only mean something on the first few months of working period because finally everybody has its own personal strength and ability to adapt in every circumstances as well as in learning new things.
Success doesn’t only rely on the type of degrees, certificates nor the school alone. 

5. These are the course types one could choose in the Studienkolleg

TI-Kurs: for you who want to study engineering and all kind of major related to technology
WW-Kurs: for you who want to study economy. By the way there are some universities that allow beholders of WW-Kurs diploma to take some majors with mixed subjects between engineering and economy such as Business Informatics or Business/Industrial Engineering
GD-Kurs: for students wish to study art or building career in other creative field in the future
SW-Kurs: this one is a class for you who want a future career in linguistic department, sociology or similar.
Those are classes offered by University of Applied Science.

The general universities offer following courses:
M-Kurs: for medicine studies, biology or pharmacy
T-Kurs: for other majors in science related to mathematic or technique/engineering
W-Kurs: to study in economy and sociology
G-Kurs: for student candidates with major of Arts, Humanities or German language and literature studies
S-Kurs: to study languages and all that related to it.

1. The last information here contain links which may help you to find further details about the topic “studying in Germany”

a. Here you can find all Studienkollegs financed by the government in Germany!

Some provides website in English, but even if you only find information in German it shouldn’t actually stop you either. If you wish to study in Germany, then learning the local language should be a matter of course anyway.
Even if you haven’t spoken German so well yet, it doesn’t matter. You still can find some assistance from your language course teacher or friend who are already studying in Germany. If you’re really wishing to study there, shouldn’t you build a new friend circle among your peers who are also studying there? They could always give some help.

b. You can submit your application to Uni-Assist.
However there are still some universities which still accept application directly and not using Uni-Assist portal. Just contact your favourite universities to get some information from the first hand.

c. Do you want to check your diplomas? Just visit this website and type the name of country, where you finished your last school.

d. Here at DAAD you would also find a lot of information and even the list of universities in Germany which offer classes in English.

e. The last link is to help you find further information if you’d like to test your qualification, whether you’re fit enough to study well in Germany or not. Here you can also find the location and institutions that carry out such test in your country!

Ok, I think that’s all for now and I’ll see you again with the next information related to this topic.

Thank you in advance for your upvotes.