Two surveys, two top German universities

Throughout the years many German universities have been lauded by various surveys. A poll of graduate students named University of Heidelberg first in the country in 2010. In 2011 the Bauhaus University in Weimar was voted “best international university.” Now two more German universities can be added to the list of well-thought-of educational institutions in the country: RWTH Aachen and Göttingen University.

RWTH Aachen was rated as Germany's best university by German business magazine WirtschaftsWoche in the April 2012 issue.  Universities were chosen for the rankings by surveying the human resources managers of the largest German corporations about which universities they preferred to mine for new hires, and in the fields of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Natural Sciences, and Business and Engineering, RWTH was ranked first.  The school's Computer Science Program was ranked second in the country, up one place from last year.

“Provision of a Practice-Based Education RWTH Rector Ernst Schmachtenberg considers the excellent qualification of RWTH graduates to be the basis for the success in the ranking, which is due, among other things, to the high degree of professional relevance of the degree programs and the incorporation of R&D project work into the curricula,” explained a press release announcing the ranking.

Meanwhile, the “International Student Barometer 2011” has given the title of best German university, placing the institution 5th in the world-wide rankings.  This ranking comes from the International Graduate Insight Group (i-graduate), who surveyed the insights, needs, and decision-making criteria of more than 200,000 international graduate students.  Of the 238 universities rated, 57 of them were in Germany.

In the 2009 and 2010 survey, Göttingen also received very high marks.  This year, of those surveyed about Göttingen University, 49 percent said they would actively recommend their school and 39 percent said they would recommend it if asked.  The school was also given high marks in the “learning” category.  Students mentioned their appreciation for the school's research performance and standard of lab equipment (both areas which are ranked number one in the country), as well as for the quality and content of lectures and courses, the expertise of teachers, and the library.

"The survey shows that the target measures of the past years have had a direct impact on student satisfaction. We are delighted that our Internationalization Project 2012 has been so rewardingly fruitful, not only at the faculties, but also on a centralized level,” said Professor Wolfgang Lücke, Vice President for Studies and Teaching.
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