Education in Germany
Public universities in Germany are funded by the federal states and do not charge tuition fees. However, all enrolled students do have to pay a semester fee ("Semesterbeitrag"). This fee consists of an administrative fee for the university (only in some of the states), a fee for "Studentenwerk", which is a statutory student affairs organization, a fee for the university's AStA ("Allgemeiner Studentenausschuss", students' government) and "Studentenschaft" (students' union), at many universities a fee for public transportation, and possibly more fees as decided by the university's students' parliament (e.g., for a cooperation with a local theater granting free entry for students). Summed up, the semester fee usually ranges between €150 and €350.
Bundeswehr University Munich
Similar to some other military run universities like the École Polytechnique the university only offers civilian study courses. The contents generally have no relation to the military and correspond to courses at regular German universities. Bachelor´s and Master´s studies in total consist of 400 ECTS credit points. Due to this there also is a small number of highly gifted civilian students who are sponsored by industrial and financial companies like Allianz, Bosch or Munich Re. In addition to that other German ministries and federal institutions like Bundesnachrichtendienst also educate some of their employees at the university. In cooperation with George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies a course of studies for senior leaders (International Strategic Studies) has been introduced. The university also has international students and offers individual mentoring and tutoring programmes. Universität der Bundeswehr has concluded partnership contracts with an increasing number of international universities.
Furthermore, it is possible for civilians to receive a doctorate or to qualify as a university lecturer ("Habilitation"). All of the professors are civilians and the number of professors per student is significantly higher than at normal German universities. Thus in general the conditions for teaching are better.
In autumn 2009 the university introduced the first military related engineering course of study called "Defence Engineering", which is solely dedicated to civilian students from industrial companies and federal institutions.
Military students of the university usually only have a maximum of 4 years to pass their Master's within the intensive studies with more content. If they do not finish their Bachelor's after 2 1/4 years with the necessary grades they cannot proceed. As the studies have to be finished in a shorter time than at common German universities the "academic year" consists of three trimesters instead of the normal two semesters.
The university has restructured its courses of study according to the Bologna treaty and offers bachelor's and master's degrees as well as doctoral and postdoctoral studies. Universität der Bundeswehr offers normal university courses of studies as well as a few more practical oriented "Fachhochschule" (University of Applied Sciences) study courses.