According to the Center for University Development (CHE), the Hanseatic city of Hamburg has by far the highest proportion of part-time students among its university students nationwide. (Archive photo) Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
Because of its distance learning universities, the Hanseatic city of Hamburg continues to be the undisputed number one in the country when it comes to the proportion of part-time students. A total of 25,500 women and men learned part-time in the 2023/24 winter semester. Measured against the number of all students, this corresponded to a rate of 21.4 percent, 0.4 points less than in the 2022/2023 winter semester, as shown by data from the Federal Statistical Office, which was evaluated by the Center for University Development (CHE) in Gütersloh. The CHE is a joint subsidiary of the Bertelsmann Foundation and the University Rectors’ Conference.
Nationwide, the proportion of part-time students out of all 2.86 million students was 7.6 percent. There were around 217,000, around 6,000 fewer than in the previous winter semester.
The extremely high values - second place North Rhine-Westphalia was 13.5 percent, third place Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was 12.2 percent – mainly come from the distance learning universities located in the Hanseatic city, which are heavily frequented by working people. For example, the proportion of part-time students at the HFH Hamburger Fern-Universität is 98.4 percent and at the FOM University of Economics and Management in Hamburg it is 96.0 percent.
489 courses offered part-time
At the European Distance Learning University in Hamburg it is still 49.7 percent. According to the information, there are 16 universities in Hamburg where at least one percent of students study part-time. At the University of Hamburg it is just under two percent.
The number of part-time courses offered in Hamburg is correspondingly high. There are 489 or 62.9 percent of all courses offered. The national average is 19.9 percent. Hamburg’s offer is only exceeded in Saarland with 66.7 percent. However, this is hardly used by students. With a rate of 0.8 percent for part-time students, Saarland is in last place nationwide.
