Let's talk about advantages first:
Public universities do not charge tuition. Of course, this advantage is for students. Compared with the high tuition fees in Britain and America, it is also a burden for students.
2. The management of the school is relatively free. Only the usual graduation period (6 semesters for undergraduate and 4 semesters for master) is stipulated, and graduation is not compulsory during this period. This advantage is relative to Huada. A relatively relaxed academic system can give students more time to practice or do what they want.
3. Clear classification. Comprehensive university (university? T) Cultivate more research (of course, it does not mean that such college students have poor practical ability). Fachhochschule works closely with enterprises, and graduates can usually adapt to the actual needs of enterprises more quickly. In addition, this technical college has a high status in Germany and will not be labeled as "poor students go to technical schools" like domestic technical schools, which is conducive to the diversion of young people to different work fields.
4. Graduation is not easy. This is relative to China University. In German universities, especially in the undergraduate stage, the pressure on students is still quite great, and there are still elimination mechanisms in some disciplines. If you fail in the midterm, you don't have to come to school. In this way, to some extent, the phenomenon that some students will not make progress once they enter the university caused by "strict entrance and lenient exit" in China University has been avoided.
5. The university level is average. Every school has its own professional advantages, and there will be no situation where the best majors in China are concentrated in Tsinghua Peking University. The advantage of this is that the educational resources are scattered, and students will not crush their heads for a good university. People will go to a university because they like a certain major, or see which school is close to home. However, this also has disadvantages, which I will talk about below.
6. Teaching level. The average teaching level is higher than that of China University. Although not all professors are competent, on the whole, the team of German professors is more genuine than that of China. After all, it takes many attempts to become a professor in Germany.
German universities still have many advantages, so I won't say much. I think most people are well aware of the advantages of German universities, because some unprincipled praise of German universities by China media has made Germany a paradise.
Focus on the drawbacks of the German university system.
Public universities do not charge tuition. Same as article 1 above. Free tuition is good for students, but not necessarily for schools. Most of the funds of public universities in Germany come from the federal government and the state government, with the state government accounting for the majority. If the state government is poor, schools will have less money. Without a good professor, the level of scientific research can't be improved. Simply put, it is lack of money.
2. The level of German universities is relatively average. This is the same as item 5 above. University level is generally a double-edged sword, but the disadvantage is that Germany lacks top universities. The result of paying too much attention to the average is the reduction of efficiency, and Germany lacks top universities like Britain and the United States. The result is: 1) The highest ranking of German universities in international universities is thirty or forty. Of course, some people can say that this ranking is meaningless. Then 2) If the school is not famous enough to attract top professors. Look at recent decades, most Nobel Prize winners have worked in the United States. In recent years, Germany's elite universities plan to build several world-class universities, but this policy has also been criticized.
This answer explains this point well:
Why are there no German universities in the list of the top 50 universities in the world? -Xie Wei's answer
Top scientific and technological fields lag behind the United States and Japan. Germany's advantage lies in sub-high technology, such as high-end machinery manufacturing, but in cutting-edge scientific fields, such as nanotechnology and life sciences, the United States and Japan are still ahead of Germany. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is the university education in Germany. As mentioned above, German universities are not attractive to top professors, and their funds are not as abundant as those of top American universities. The university system that pursues the principle of fairness has no problem in cultivating upper-middle-level students, but it is insufficient in cultivating elite students. Without elite students, they will be at a relative disadvantage in the top high-tech fields.
4. The problem of teacher promotion system. It's a long way to be a professor in Germany. First of all, after getting a doctorate, it will take several years to write an article longer than a doctoral thesis, and it will also be investigated. The German name is Habilitation, and I am qualified to teach in a university. Then you can teach at school and wait. German professors, like the United States, have a chair (Lehrstuhl, English Chair), and the number of chairs is fixed, so it is just a radish and a pit. Young scholars who want to be professors should not only reach the corresponding academic level, but also wait for the vacancy of the president of the school. When will there be vacancies? Generally speaking, old professors either retire, die or jump ship. This means that young teachers, wait slowly. Before these young teachers get professorships, it is usually difficult for them to lead an important scientific research project almost independently, and the motivation of young researchers is likely to decline. Moreover, those teachers who have not yet become professors are "contract workers" and may be swept out of the house at any time when their contracts expire. Comparatively speaking, the lifelong system in the United States can stimulate the enthusiasm of young and middle-aged scientists.
However, the German government has taken measures to modify this promotion system, such as introducing junior professorships. In addition, I personally feel that Germany seems to want to promote some promising young scholars to become professors. For example, recently, two very young professors came to the economics department of our school.
Finally, say three points. 1) Please don't listen to some media articles touting Germany, more than half of them are false. Germany is not so perfect. 2) Although we have talked about the disadvantages of so many German universities, on the whole, German universities have provided competent and suitable human resources for the development of German economy in the past few years. In other words, Germany's university system is in line with Germany's economic development and industrial needs. For example, Germany, as mentioned above, is strong in cultivating middle-class talents, but not good at cultivating top talents. Germany's economy is based on manufacturing, electromechanical, chemical and automobile industries, which requires a large number of middle-class talents and engineers trained by technical colleges who can quickly adapt to actual production. 3) However, the economic situation is constantly changing, and the industrial structure is also changing rapidly. At a certain stage, the drawbacks of the German university system will be exposed, such as now. Therefore, the German government is also taking measures to modify the existing university education system to meet the development requirements of the new era. How the specific effect is, it will take time to test.