According to a study, around 10,000 of the 123,600 students in Rhineland-Palatinate studied part-time in the 2020/21 winter semester. This corresponds to a rate of around 8.5 percent. This puts Rhineland-Palatinate in fifth place in a comparison of the federal states and slightly above the national average, according to an evaluation by the Center for Higher Education Development (CHE), a subsidiary of the Gütersloh-based Bertelsmann Foundation.

According to this, there are currently 35 part-time study programs in Rhineland-Palatinate and thus hardly more than in the winter semester 20/21 ( 1). Part-time students are people who have to perform less during their studies than full-time students, for example because they are already employed, have children or care for relatives.

When it comes to part-time students, Hamburg leads with a share of 21.1 percent ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia with 13.3 percent. However, in some federal states, including North Rhine-Westphalia and Hamburg, the location of distance learning universities is noticeable. Critics say this skews the statistics.

According to its own statements, the CHE used the data from the University Compass of the German Rectors' Conference for the 2021/22 winter semester to record the courses offered and the part-time offer rate. The proportion of actual part-time students, on the other hand, is based on information from the Federal Statistical Office for the 2020/21 winter semester.

Center for Higher Education Development