Berlin, Germany Education
According to the Education Act for the State of Berlin (SchulG in the version of January 26, 2004, last amended by Act of March 26, 2014), the school system comprises elementary school, as secondary general education schools, integrated secondary level and grammar school, as vocational schools, vocational school, Vocational school, technical secondary school, vocational secondary school, vocational high school and technical school, furthermore the schools with special educational focus (special schools) as well as institutions of the second educational path.
At the beginning of a school year, all children who are or will be six years old between January 1st and December 31st of each year are required to attend school. In primary school, pupils in the 1st to 6th grade are taught. Primary school begins with a flexible start-up phase (grades 1 and 2). Teaching a foreign language (English or French) is compulsory for all primary school students from the 3rd school year. Secondary level I builds on the primary school. The lower secondary level ends with the acquisition of the vocational qualification, the extended vocational qualification or the middle school leaving certificate. Advanced vocational qualification and intermediate school leaving certificate require a final procedure that is based on the assessments of grade 10 and an examination that is at least in German, Mathematics and a foreign language is composed. The integrated secondary level generally comprises grades 7 to 10 and then leads to the Abitur. The gymnasiale Oberstufe offers it either independently, in cooperation with a vocational high school or with another integrated secondary level. The integrated secondary level offers practice-related and job-oriented learning primarily in cooperation with companies and the providers of vocational preparation and training. In grades 9 and 10, the school can make mandatory participation. The grammar school comprises grades 7 to 10 and the upper school level in a two-year form. The upper school level leading to the Abitur,
Secondary education institutions include: the colleges (adult education colleges and Berlin colleges) and the evening grammar school. The vocational schools include vocational schools, vocational schools, technical colleges, vocational high schools and technical schools, all of which are grouped together in upper school centers. In addition to general and vocational schools, there is a richly structured system of schools with a special educational focus (special schools).
For the 2006/07 school year in Berlin, the religiously and ideologically neutral teaching subject ethics was made compulsory for all pupils from 7th to 10th grade, and religious education remains a voluntary additional offer.
Child day care in Berlin is regulated by the Child Day Promotion Act (KitaFöG of June 23, 2005, with changes). Since January 1, 2011, the last three years before starting school are free of charge. In Berlin, the childcare quota for children between three and six years of age is 92.4% and for children under three years of age it is 43.9% (as of March 1, 2018).
In the higher education sector, the Free University of Berlin, the Technical University of Berlin and the Humboldt University of Berlin are state sponsored. There are also the Berlin University of the Arts, the Weißensee Academy of Art in Berlin, the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin and the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts. In addition, there are seven public universities (Alice Salomon University Berlin, Evangelical University Berlin, Catholic University of Social Sciences Berlin, htw University of Technology and Economics Berlin, Beuth University of Technology Berlin, University of Economics and Law Berlin and the Federal University of Applied Sciences Administration [location Berlin]) as well as 46 private universities (including ESCP Europe, ESMT European School of Management and Technology, Hertie School of Governance, Steinbeis University Berlin, Medical School Berlin – University of Health and Medicine as well as the International Psychoanalytic University Berlin).
As the seat of non-university research institutions, Berlin has a.o. through five scientific institutes of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science e. V. (MPI for Educational Research, Fritz Haber Institute of the MPG, MPI for Molecular Genetics, MPI for Infection Biology, MPI for the History of Science), several institutes of the Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research e. V. (inter alia for production systems and construction technology IPK, for open communication systems FOKUS, for reliability and microintegration IZM) as well as numerous institutes of the Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz e. V. (German Institute for Economic Research [DIW Berlin], WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth, Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short-Term Spectroscopy, Weierstrass -Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics, Paul Drude Institute for Solid State Electronics, Ferdinand Braun Institute – Leibniz Institute for High Frequency Technology, Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Museum of Natural History – Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Research, German Rheumatism Research Center Berlin [DRFZ]). Other central scientific institutions include: the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, the German Center for Age Issues.
