Bachelor graduates have better chance to get ahead in German business: study

Students graduating with Bachelor degrees have better opportunities to get ahead in business in Germany than other university graduates, a study released on Thursday reported.

The recent study on career paths for Bachelor graduates, conducted by the Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany and the Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW), was based on a survey of 1,497 German companies in 2014. The study looked at salary, entry-level positions, and opportunities for development for Bachelor graduates.

According to the study, the initial job positions of Bachelor gradates did not differ significantly from those of the Master graduates. However, Bachelor graduates had a better chance at filling management positions.

The survey found that more and more companies, especially small and medium-sized companies, were employing Bachelor graduates, whose representation in these companies increased by ten percentage points to 23 percent since 2010.

Compared to results of four years ago, Masters and even Doctorate level graduates continued to lose importance in businesses in Germany, due to the vast majority of German companies having no positions for which a Master's degree was absolutely necessary.

The study said it was not the academic degree that counted. In fact, the relevance of a Master's degree as a selection criterion for higher specialist and management positions had continued to lose weight against practical criteria such as the employee's drive and ability to identify with the company's objectives. Endit