Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Non-completion, Transfer, and Dropout of Traditional and Non-traditional Students in Germany

  • Published:
Research in Higher Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A considerable proportion of students in Germany has graduated from vocational training before entering higher education. With this paper we examined how these students progress through higher education. We argue that successful graduation is the result of a sequence of decisions and decompose the trajectories through higher education to distinguish non-completion, transfer and dropout. We used the German Educational Panel Study (NEPS-SC6), a retrospective life course study, and applied logistic regression models. Our results suggest that students with vocational qualifications are slightly more likely to graduate from the initially chosen program than traditional students, but this advantage diminishes after controlling individual and institutional characteristics. After non-completion of the initially chosen program, the traditional students are more likely to remain in higher education and transfer to another program, whereas students with vocational certificates rather choose to leave higher education. Taking the entire trajectory together, our bivariate analyses reveal a slightly higher risk of leaving higher education without graduation among the students with pre-tertiary vocational training. Again, this association disappears in models that control for individual and institutional characteristics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Next to these two main types of higher education, the German system also comprises a number of specialized types of institutions, such as, for example, Dual Academies (Duale Hochschulen), Academies of Public Administration and Management (Verwaltungsfachochschulen) and Universities of the Armed Forces (Hochschule der Bundeswehr). These programs usually combine an apprenticeship or employment with higher education and hence cannot unambiguously be treated as higher education.

  2. Note that these schools are, unlike the vocational schools described earlier, upper secondary schools which maintain the curriculum of general upper secondary schools with an additional focus on business, engineering/technology, health/care or agriculture/nutrition.

  3. Admission of these “non-traditional” students in fact usually is based on vocational qualifications as well. Often a vocational training certificate plus work experience or specialists training is required and admission usually is restricted to related fields.

  4. Brändle and Lengfeld (2015, 2017) show contradicting results on a cohort of students (B.A. social economics) at the University of Hamburg.

  5. The higher education system of the GDR followed planned economy principles in admission and graduation of students. Especially the selection of students was based on academic merits, but also on compliance with the socialist government values, which lead to a highly selected student population and low dropout rates. We do, however, include Eastern German citizens who entered higher education after the reunion.

  6. Transfers of type of institution are all transfers between universities and universities of applied sciences.

  7. A transfer of type of degree without a change of field of study most typically occurs when students decide to enter teacher training in their field or when they started a teacher training and decide to transfer to a program that does not result in a teaching license.

  8. Note that the typical age of obtaining a traditional general Abitur is 19 for the birth cohorts in our sample. The typical age of obtaining a lower secondary leaving certificate is 16 years, whereas the typical duration of a vocational training course is 3 years. This is to illustrate that the group with pre-tertiary vocational training is not by definition older. The average transition age however, is approximately 4 years higher (without vocational training: 20.6; with vocational training: 24.7).

References

  • Allmendinger, J. (1989). Educational systems and labor market outcomes. European Sociological Review,5(3), 231–250.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnett, J. J. (2004). Emerging adulthood. The winding road from the late teens through the twenties. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Astin, A. W. (1993). What matters in college? Four critical years revisited. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Attewell, P., Heil, S., & Reisel, L. (2012). What is academic momentum? And does it matter? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis,34(1), 27–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger, J. B., & Braxton, J. M. (1998). Revising Tinto’s interactionalist theory of student departure through theory elaboration: Examining the role of organizational attributes in the persistence process. Research in Higher Education,39(2), 103–119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bildungsberichterstattung, Autorengruppe. (2014). Bildung in Deutschland 2014. Ein indikatorengestützter Bericht mit einer Analyse zur Bildung von Menschen mit Behinderungen. Bielefeld: W. Bertelsmann Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birch, R. E., & Miller, P. W. (2007). The characteristics of ‘Gap-Year’students and their tertiary academic outcomes. Economic Record,83(262), 329–344.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blossfeld, H.-P., Roßbach, H.-G., & von Maurice, J. (Eds.). (2011a). Education as a lifelong process—The German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, Special issue 14

  • Blossfeld, H.-P., von Maurice, J., & Schneider, T. (2011b). The National Educational Panel Study: Need, main features, and research potential. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft,14(2), 5–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bol, T., & Weeden, K. A. (2015). Occupational closure and wage inequality in Germany and the United Kingdom. European Sociological Review,31(3), 354–369.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bozick, R., & DeLuca, S. (2005). Better late than never? Delayed enrollment in the high school to college transition. Social Forces,84(1), 531–554.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brändle, T., & Lengfeld, H. (2015). Erzielen Studierende ohne Abitur geringeren Studienerfolg? Befunde einer quantitativen Fallstudie. Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 44(6), 447–472.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brändle, T., & Lengfeld, H. (2017). Drifting apart or converging? Grades among non-traditional and traditional students over the course of their studies: A case study from Germany. Higher Education, 73(2), 227–244.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brint, S., & Karabel, J. (1989). American-education, meritocratic ideology, and the legitimation of inequality—The community-college and the problem of American exceptionalism. Higher Education,18(6), 725–735.

    Google Scholar 

  • Büchel, F., & Helberger, C. (1995). Bildungsnachfrage als Versicherungsstrategie. Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt-und Berufsforschung,28(1), 32–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buchholz, S., & Pratter, M. (2017). Wer profitiert von alternativen Bildungswegen? Alles eine Frage des Blickwinkels! Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie,69(3), 409–435.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burchert, H., & Müller, C. (2012). Der Erfolg beruflich qualifizierter Studierender an Fachhochschulen. Bonn: Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cantwell, R., Archer, J., & Bourke, S. (2001). A comparison of the academic experiences and achievement of university students entering by traditional and non-traditional means. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education,26(3), 221–234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, C., & Cribb, J. (2012). Gap year takers: Uptake, trends and long term outcomes. UK Research Report (DFE-RR252). Department of Education. Institute for Fiscal Studies through the Centre for Analysis of Youth Transitions (CAYT). Retrieved from http://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/6472.

  • Dahm, G., & Kerst, C. (2013). Immer noch eine Ausnahme—nicht-traditionelle Studierende an deutschen Hochschulen. Zeitschrift für Beratung und Studium (ZBS),8(2), 34–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dahm, G., & Kerst, C. (2016). Erfolgreich studieren ohne Abi? Ein mehrdimensionaler Vergleich des Studienerfolgs von nicht-traditionellen und traditionellen Studierenden. In A. Wolter, U. Banscherus, & C. Kamm (Eds.), Zielgruppen Lebenslangen Lernens an Hochschulen. Ergebnisse der wissenschaftlichen Begleitung des Bund-Länder-Wettbewerbs Aufstieg durch Bildung: offene Hochschulen (pp. 225–265). Waxmann: Münster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dex, S. (1995). The reliability of recall data: A literature review. Bulletin of Sociological Methodology/Bulletin de Methodologie Sociologique,49(1), 58–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dougherty, K. J., & Kienzl, G. S. (2006). It’s not enough to get through the open door: Inequalities by social background in transfer from community colleges to four-year colleges. Teachers College Record,108(3), 452–487.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2002). Motivational beliefs, values, and goals. Annual Review of Psychology,53(1), 109–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edeling, S., & Pilz, M. (2017). ‘Should I stay or should I go?’—The additive double qualification pathway in Germany. Journal of Vocational Education & Training,69(1), 81–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erdel, B. (2010). Welche Determinanten beeinflussen den Studienerfolg? Eine empirische Analyse zum Studienerfolg der ersten Kohorte der Bachelorstudenten in der Assessmentphase am Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften der Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Lehrstuhl für Soziologie und empirische Sozialforschung, insb. Arbeitsmarktsoziologie, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nürnberg

  • Faulkner, F., Fitzmaurice, O., & Hannigan, A. (2016). A comparison of the mathematical performance of mature students and traditional students over a 10-year period. Irish Educational Studies,35(4), 337–359.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldrick-Rab, S., & Han, S. W. (2011). Accounting for socioeconomic differences in delaying the transition to college. Review of Higher Education,34(3), 423–445.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldrick-Rab, S., & Pfeffer, F. T. (2009). Beyond access: Explaining socioeconomic differences in college transfer. Sociology of Education,82(2), 101–125.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, V. N., & Steele, G. E. (2015). The undecided college student: An academic and career advising challenge. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas Publisher.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haas, A. (2002). Regionale Mobilität am Arbeitsmarkt: Wohin nach der Berufsausbildung? Die Ost/West-Mobilität von jungen Fachkräften. Nürnberg: Institut für Arbeitsmarkt und Berufsforschung (IAB).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammen, A. (2011). Mehrfachqualifikationen: Sprungbrett oder Umweg? München: Rainer Hampp Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hearn, J. C. (1992). Emerging variations in postsecondary attendance patterns—An investigation of part-time, delayed, and nondegree enrollment. Research in Higher Education,33(6), 657–687.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heath, S. (2007). Widening the gap: Pre-university gap years and the ‘economy of experience’. British Journal of Sociology of Education,28(1), 89–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heather, T. R.-K. (2007). Predictors of delayed college enrollment and the impact of socioeconomic status. The Journal of Higher Education,78(2), 188–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heine, C., Krawietz, M., & Sommer, D. (2008). Studienanfänger im Wintersemester 2006/07. Wege zum Studium, Studien- und Hochschulwahl, Situation bei Studienbeginn. Hannover: Hochschulinformationssystem.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herzog, S. (2005). Measuring determinants of student return vs. dropout/stopout vs. transfer: A first-to-second year analysis of new freshmen. Research in Higher Education,46(8), 883–928.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heublein, U., Hutzsch, C., Schreiber, J., Sommer, D., & Besuch, G. (2010). Ursachen des Studienabbruchs in Bachelor- und in herkömmlichen Studiengängen. Ergebnisse einer bundesweiten Befragung von Exmatrikulierten des Studienjahres 2007/08. Hannover: Hochschul-Informations-System.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heublein, U., Ebert, J., Hutzsch, C., Isleib, S., König, R., Richter, J., et al. (2017). Zwischen Studienerwartungen und Studienwirklichkeit. Ursachen des Studienabbruchs, beruflicher Verbleib der Studienabbrecherinnen und Studienabbrecher und Entwicklung der Studienabbruchquote an deutschen Hochschulen. Hannover: DZHW.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hovdhaugen, E. (2009). Transfer and dropout: Different forms of student departure in Norway. Studies in Higher Education,34(1), 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ishitani, T. T., & Flood, L. D. (2018). Student Transfer-Out Behavior at Four-Year Institutions. Research in Higher Education,59(7), 825–846.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacob, M. (2004). Mehrfachausbildungen in Deutschland: Karriere, Collage, Kompensation? Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacob, M. (2017). Mehrfachausbildungen und Diskontinuitäten zwischen Schule und Beruf. In R. Becker (Ed.), Lehrbuch der Bildungssoziologie (pp. 359–391). Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacob, M., & Weiss, F. (2008). From higher education to work. Patterns of labour market entry in Germany and the US. Mannheim: Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische Sozialforschung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jürgens, A., & Zinn, B. (2012). Nichttraditionell Studierende in ingenieurwissenschaftlichen Studiengängen-Zugangswege, Motive, kognitive Voraussetzungen. Beiträge zur Hochschulforschung,34(4), 34–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalogrides, D., & Grodsky, E. (2011). Something to fall back on: Community colleges as a safety net. Social Forces,89(3), 853–877.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerckhoff, A. C. (2000). Transition from school to work in comparative perspective. In M. T. Hallinan (Ed.), Handbook of the sociology of education (pp. 453–474). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kogan, I. (2011). New immigrants–Old disadvantage patterns? Labour market integration of recent immigrants into Germany. International Migration,49(1), 91–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolland, F. (2002). Studienabbruch: Zwischen Kontinuität und Krise: eine empirische Untersuchung an Österreichs Universitäten. Wien: Braumüller.

    Google Scholar 

  • Köller, O., & Trautwein, U. (2003). Englischleistungen von Schülerinnen und Schülern an allgemein bildenden und beruflichen Gymnasien. In O. Köller, R. Watermann, U. Trautwein, & O. Lüdtke (Eds.), Wege zur Hochschulreife in Baden-Württemberg (pp. 285–326). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manski, C. F. (1989). Schooling as experimentation: A reappraisal of the postsecondary dropout phenomenon. Economics of Education review,8(4), 305–312.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, A. J. (2010). Should students have a gap year? Motivation and performance factors relevant to time out after completing school. Journal of Educational Psychology,102(3), 561.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKenzie, K., & Gow, K. (2004). Exploring the first year academic achievement of school leavers and mature-age students through structural equation modelling. Learning and Individual Differences,14(2), 107–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meulemann, H. (1991). Zufriedenheit und Erfolg in der Bildungslaufbahn. Ein Längsschnitt vom Gymnasium bis zum Studienabschluß. Zeitschrift für Sozialisationsforschung und Erziehungssoziologie,3, 215–239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milesi, C. (2010). Do all roads lead to Rome? Effect of educational trajectories on educational transitions. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility,28(1), 23–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mood, C. (2010). Logistic regression: Why we cannot do what we think we can do, and what we can do about it. European Sociological Review,26(1), 67–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller, S., & Schneider, T. (2013). Educational Pathways and dropout from higher education in Germany. Longitudinal and Life Course Studies,4(3), 218–241.

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller, W., Steinmann, S., & Ell, R. (1998). Education and Labour-Market Entry in Germany. In Y. Shavit & W. Müller (Eds.), From School to Work: A Comparative Study of Educational Qualifications and Occupational Destinations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niu, S., & Tienda, M. (2013). Delayed enrollment and college plans: Is there a postponement penalty? Journal of Higher Education,84(1), 1–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orr, D., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2014). Second chance routes into higher education: Sweden, Norway and Germany compared. International Journal of Lifelong Education,33(1), 45–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker, P. D., Thoemmes, F., Duineveld, J. J., & Salmela-Aro, K. (2015). I wish I had (not) taken a gap-year? The psychological and attainment outcomes of different post-school pathways. Developmental Psychology,51(3), 323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pascarella, E. T., & Terenzini, P. T. (1991). How college affects students. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rager, B., and Rottmann, H. (2015). Determinanten des Studienerfolgs: Eine empirische Untersuchung für die Studiengänge Maschinenbau, Medienproduktion und-technik sowie Umwelttechnik: OTH im Dialog: Weidener Diskussionspapiere

  • Roksa, J., & Velez, M. (2012). A late start—Delayed entry, life course transitions and bachelor’s degree completion. Social Forces,90(3), 769–794.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schindler, S. (2014). Wege zur Studienberechtigung—Wege ins Studium? Eine Analyse sozialer Inklusions- und Ablenkungsprozesse. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaft.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schindler, S., & Reimer, D. (2010). Differentiation and social selectivity in German higher education. Higher Education,61(3), 261–275.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, B., & Stevenson, D. (1999). The ambitious generation. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholten, M., & Tieben, N. (2017). Vocational qualification as safety-net? Education-to-work transitions of higher education dropouts in Germany. Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training,9(7), 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro, D., Dundar, A., Huie, F., Wakhungu, P. K., Bhimdiwala, A., Nathan, A., et al. (2018). A national view of student movement in postsecondary institutions, fall 2011 cohort (Signature Report No. 15). Herndon, VA: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shavit, Y., & Müller, W. (2000). Vocational secondary education. Where diversion and where safety net. European Societies,2(1), 29–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soskice, D. (1994). Reconciling markets and institutions: The German apprentice system. In L. M. Lynch (Ed.), Training and the private sector (pp. 25–60). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stegmann, H., & Kraft, H. (1983). Abiturient und betriebliche Berufsausbildung: Nachfrage nach Ausbildungsplätzen, Übergang in eine betriebliche Berufausbildung und späteres Studium. Aus der Untersuchung des IAB “Jugendliche beim Übergang vom Bildungs-in das Beschäftigungssystem”(Projekt 3-213). Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt-und Berufsforschung,16(1), 28–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Super, D. E. (1980). A life-span, life-space approach to career development. Journal of Vocational Behavior,16(3), 282–298.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tieben, N., & Rohrbach-Schmidt, D. (2014). Die berufliche Höherqualifizierung in den Abschlussjahrgängen 1960-1999: Effekte der sozialen Herkunft und Folgen der Bildungsexpansion. Sozialer Fortschritt,63(4/5), 117–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tinto, V. (1975). Dropout from higher education: A theoretical synthesis of recent research. Review of Educational Research, 45(1), 89–125.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tinto, V. (1993). Leaving College: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trautwein, U., & Lüdtke, O. (2004). Aspekte von Wissenschaftspropädeutik und Studierfähigkeit. In O. Köller, R. Watermann, U. Trautwein, & O. Lüdtke (Eds.), Wege zur Hochschulreife in Baden-Württemberg: TOSCA—Eine Untersuchung an allgemein bildenden und beruflichen Gymnasien (pp. 327–366). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.

    Google Scholar 

  • Triventi, M. (2014). Does working during higher education affect students’ academic progression? Economics of Education Review,41, 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walden, G., & Troltsch, K. (2011). Apprenticeship training in Germany—Still a future-oriented model for recruiting skilled workers? Journal of Vocational Education & Training,63(3), 305–322.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watermann, R., Nagy, G., & Köller, O. (2003). Mathematikleistungen in allgemein bildenden und beruflichen Gymnasien. In O. Köller, R. Watermann, U. Trautwein, & O. Lüdtke (Eds.), Wege zur Hochschulreife in Baden-Württemberg. TOSCA—Eine Untersuchung an allgemein bildenden und beruflichen Gymnasien (pp. 205–283). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, R. (2012). Using the margins command to estimate and interpret adjusted predictions and marginal effects. Stata Journal,12(2), 308–331.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willich, J., Buck, D., Heine, C., & Sommer, D. (2011). Studienanfänger im Wintersemester 2009/10. Wege zum Studium, Studien-und Hochschulwahl, Situation bei Studienbeginn. Hannover: Hochschul Informations System.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolbers, M. H. J. (2007). Patterns of labour market entry: A comparative perspective on school-to-work transitions in 11 European Countries. Acta Sociologica,50(3), 189–210.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This paper uses data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS): Starting Cohort 6—Adults (Adult Education and Lifelong Learning), https://doi.org/10.5157/neps:sc6:7.0.0. The NEPS data collection is part of the Framework Programme for the Promotion of Empirical Educational Research, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and supported by the Federal States. The work on this paper has been generously funded by the German Science Foundation within the Priority Programme 1646 “Education as a lifelong process”.

Funding

The funding was provided by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Science Foundation, Grant No. TI 766/1-1).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Nicole Tieben

Authors
  1. Nicole Tieben
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicole Tieben.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Tieben, N. Non-completion, Transfer, and Dropout of Traditional and Non-traditional Students in Germany. Res High Educ 61, 117–141 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-019-09553-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-019-09553-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation