Overview of the situation in education in Germany and new tendencies in study orientation

Hans Kistenmacher

SUMMARY

From the beginning of the 90s there are large-scale changes in the background of spatial planning. They are determined by globalisation, by declared orientation towards sustainable development that should be a new bearing concept in the German law on spatial arrangements as well as by the news tasks of spatial planning in the sense of European integration. In Germany there are two principal orientations in education, the first one is a full study and the second one is the possibility to gain corresponding deepening of the knowledge in the frame of other branches (e.g. architecture or geography). The model of the full study has been currently implemented at five universities (in Berlin, Hamburg, Dortmund, Kassel and Kaiserlautern). At the end of the paper there are stated the consequences for education of the next generation of spatial planners. Primarily, education should be cross-referenced. The study oriented towards practical tasks and projects can simulate the needs and requirements ot the practice at the best. Besides that it can be very useful to strengthen the curriculum with the subject on the planning systems and traditions in the states of EU since the whole of EU can become a potential labout market for the graduates.

Keywords: spatial planners, tendencies, education, study orientation, spatial planning, Germany