The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Around a week ago, The Bhutanese received a request for a meeting with the German Ambassador, Dr Philipp Ackerman, who was coming to Bhutan on a visit.
This reporter met with the Ambassador on Wednesday, who said the main reason for him wanting to meet the newspaper was the paper’s investigative article on 3rd May 2025 titled, ‘The reality of studying in Germany’ which showed Bhutanese students struggling with housing, jobs and a language barrier in Germany.
The Ambassador said he appreciated the ‘well researched investigative article,’ and he wanted to share more information in this regard.
Dr Philipp said that some consultancies in Bhutan have been promoting very expensive, but mediocre private colleges in Germany, but they are not German.
He said they are either British, Polish, Italian or Israeli run colleges, which using the European Union system, can be registered in a different country and set up a school in Germany.
“They are not German schools, and they never will give you a German degree. You may get an Italian degree or something,” said the Ambassador.
The Ambassador further said, “And I would really discourage students to go for these schools because you won’t be satisfied with the level of education.”
He said these private schools are English medium schools, that are recruiting mainly in South Asia and mainly in India, and said, “They cost about 13,000 Euros per semester (6 months) which is quite high, and I will tell you that we, from a German point of view, are not satisfied with the level of education they offer.”
The Ambassador said for Bhutanese students interested to study in Germany, they should instead apply to state-owned or state run colleges, as higher education in Germany is essentially free and of a very high standard. He said the fees are very minimal for a very good education in such colleges.
He said the second advantage is that if a student goes for Master’s Degree after graduation, then the language barrier should not be a problem because most of the Master’s Degree classes are taught in English.
However, he said that German is required for the undergraduate courses though there are some state universities that offer English undergraduate courses.
He said that there are only a handful of very good private colleges in Germany.
The Ambassador said that apart from promoting expensive private colleges of dubious quality some education consultancies are sending in multiple applications written in the same manner.
He said, “Quite a number of these applications look exactly the same and basically only the name is different. When we see these it is obviously an education consultant that prepares these applications.”
And he added, “I have to be very clear. When we see these applications, each and every one is rejected as we don’t know who is really behind it.”
The Ambassador said it is not that difficult when one does a little research to individually apply for a German university instead of going through education consultants.
“Now, that doesn’t mean that, you know, living in Germany and trying to find accommodation in Germany and to make a life in Germany is easy, and you describe that very well in your article,” said the Ambassador.
He said that one cannot go to Germany under the pretext of studying with the real intention being to work. The Ambassador said that is a punishable crime.
“I mean, you have the right to work in addition to your studies until the amount of 550 Euros a month, which is for a little pocket money, but not enough to cover your living cost,” the Ambassador pointed out.
“So, you can have a little job on the side, to have some pocket money, but if you inscribe yourself in some university and then start working full time, then you are illegally working and if that gets known, then you will be repatriated right away,” he further explained.
The Ambassador said that if Bhutanese want to work in Germany, then they should not take the student route but apply for work visas as Germany has a very liberal immigration policy.
“So, if a Bhutanese fulfills certain needs like skilled labor needs in Germany or have the right degree then there are many areas of professions where one can apply for,” he said.
He also cautioned, “What I would strongly discourage is, you know, trying to do this thing where we say we are going to study, but in the fact, we want to work. That’s not worth it and is not going to work.”
The Ambassador said that 550 Euros limit a month will not even cover the rent expense.
Giving an example, the Ambassador said that in some of the expensive private colleges, many Indian students get indebted due to the high student fees, and they end up illegally on the streets of Berlin and try to work full time.
“And when they get caught, it’s over, you know. That’s deportation right away,” he pointed out.
The Ambassador said that Germany universities are very welcoming when it comes to genuine foreign students. He said it is one of the destinations in the world with a lot of foreign students and the numbers are growing by the day.
He said, “We are very happy if students decide to come to Germany to study there.”
He also advised Bhutanese students to get a full-fledged idea on how to study in Germany from the DAAD website or the German academic exchange in New Delhi that has all the information needed for studying in Germany.
