Studieren ab 50? – Du hast die Wahl aus verschiedenen Konzepten
Die kleinen grauen Zellen auf Trab halten und gleichzeitig Austausch zu anderen Menschen pflegen, der über Small-Talk hinausgeht – wenn wir uns spät für (noch) ein Studium entscheiden, bringen wir geistiges Fitnesstraining und (interessanten) Kontakt zu anderen Menschen unter einen Hut.
Wir müssen es ja nicht gleich machen wie Michael Nicholson, der nach insgesamt 55 Jahren Studium immerhin 30 Studiengänge und akademische Grade vorweisen kann, einschließlich eines Doktortitels oder wie der Österreicher Norbert Heinel, der ausschließlich Doktorwürden sammelt.
Aber während wir uns früher in der Schule und auch noch später im Berufsleben mit Dingen beschäftigten, weil sie eben im Lehrplan standen oder es der Job erforderte, so dürfen wir uns heute nach Herzenslust denjenigen Themengebieten widmen, an denen unser Herz hängt. Dafür können wir uns sogar noch das Modell auswählen, das uns am Meisten zusagt und unseren Wunsch nach Kontakt zu anderen Menschen befriedigt. Diverse Hochschulen, Universitäten und Institute bieten einiges an Möglichkeiten.
Why go back to school?
If you have been mentally active all your life, you don't stop that from one day to the next with the start of retirement and from then on only indulge in monotonous topics, because if you do that, you quickly degenerate and if you are boring, you tend to stay alone.
On the contrary: an alert mind continues to need nourishment and now - with the onset of retirement - the time for it is finally here! Finally the time to study without the pressure that many young students feel during their studies. Those who study for the first time beyond the age of 50, or take up a second or even further degree, are normally no longer working towards a professional usability of their knowledge. No employer needs to be impressed, no recruiters need to be convinced. Late students occupy themselves with what they are really interested in, what they have always wanted to do, and all this in stimulating company of both young regular students and senior students. During their studies, they can make many contacts with people who share the same interests as they do, and perhaps they will also find one or two other things in common. If many young students find friends for life or a life partner during their studies, this is also a conceivable scenario for older semesters.
The classical study
If you want to enrol as a "real" student - i.e. just like someone fresh out of school - you will have all the rights and obligations of a regular student. In most cases, you will need a general higher education entrance qualification to take up your studies, and in some degree programmes, depending on the degree programme you have chosen, you will need a higher education entrance qualification from a university of applied sciences or a subject-specific higher education entrance qualification. Some degree programmes replace this requirement with relevant work experience or special interest and/or talent. However, this is rather rare and can be enquired about at the universities with the respective contact persons and study programme advisors and varies from university to university and is also handled differently in each federal state. Many degree programmes are full-time, but some can also be studied part-time. In any case, however, the traditional degree programme leads to a degree, which means that in the course of your studies you also have to write exams, write seminar papers, give presentations or provide other evidence of achievement - including study groups and work in project teams.
The concept of senior studies
You want to slow down and not overdo it right away? You don't need a title for your professional life anyway? Then a degree programme for seniors could be the solution for you. You won't get a professional qualification like a Bachelor's or Master's degree, but you are much freer to organise your time and the content. You do not have to complete any compulsory seminars of the "normal" student curriculum, but only take those subjects that you enjoy. Here you have the opportunity to live out your purely professional interest, even if this means that you choose subjects or seminars from each faculty that would not belong together in a normal degree programme. Studying will be easier for you than for a regular student who, on the one hand, also has to take courses that do not suit him or her so well and who, on the other hand, later has to take courses with advanced and in-depth modules, while you can stay with the basic course if you want to. The concept of senior studies is often referred to as guest auditorship, because you don't have to be a senior by any means to take part - although the over-50s make up the majority of guest auditors. Some universities also offer certificates of completion for senior students, which, however, are not intended to be a professional qualification, but rather a kind of recognition for the services rendered.
Certificate programme
For all those who fulfil the admission requirements:
- Academic degree
- Examinations, written examinations, other certificates of achievement
- Structured, often modular, with compulsory courses
Comprehensive knowledge of the subject studied through prescribed specialisation subjects
Guest auditor studies
For all interested students, outside Bavaria also possible without Abitur (A-levels)
No special considerations
- No academic degree
- No exams or written examinations
- Level rather superficial
- Choice of different (also "non-matching") courses possible
Learning from and with each other
So, the subject is chosen, the enrolment is done and the first lecture is about to start. Some people then carry themselves with a strange feeling. Will I keep up with the pace of the other students? Will they recognise me as one of their own? These concerns are unfounded, the others have them too...
The advantage of a mixed group - even in terms of age - is that different views and previous knowledge meet, which usually fosters a lively and fruitful dialogue. A senior in a history course may even be able to contribute his own family experiences as an eyewitness. The retired tax official can liven up the accounting course with his practical experiences. This enriches the course immensely. Of course - and here you should really be careful as a senior student - you shouldn't take the sceptre out of the lecturer's hand because you were there live yourself and the young professor has his knowledge "only" from books. The latter has a different, more neutral approach and is also familiar with the issues related to the topic and the corresponding context. How you are perceived by fellow students and lecturers - whether as a smart aleck or an affable fellow student - is up to you.
Ask yourself what you really want to do, enquire at the nearest university about the possibilities for seniors or guests, pay attention to the enrolment deadlines and just get started!
