TU9, the group comprised of nine leading German engineering schools, wants to resurrect the the Diplom-Ingenieur degree. In compliance with the Bologna Declaration, over the past years Germany has gradually introduced the three-cycle Bachelor-Master-PhD degree structure; however, strong scepticism from the country’s technical universities remained. For right or wrong, they regard the pre-Bologna degree of the Diplom-Ingenieur as a global brand that, as they argue, was foolish to give up. 

Strictly speaking, the demand is not that the Bachelor-Master structure be abolished, but that the technical universities reserve the right to award an additional Diplom-Ingenieur title to Master course graduates. The problem, though, is that the Diplom degree no longer exists in the higher education legislation of most German states. TU9 is now demanding a legislative reform to make this double award possible, as appears already to be the case in Austria.

TU9 enrols 14% of all students in Germany. Collectively they educate 47% of the country’s engineering graduates and give 57% of all PhD awards.

TU9 (in German)