universities

LONDON — Free higher education in the home of Western civilization's most provocative thinkers, a chance to learn a second language -- and a legal drinking age of 16? It's a formula that might appeal to both stressed parents and students alike! Germany is willing to accommodate what could be a dream for many American families, worried about the skyrocketing cost of higher education. “Our idea is to get the best people to the universities,” said Nina Lemmens, the London-based director of the German Academic Exchange Service, the DAAD. This week, Lemmens has been promoting the free international degree program in English to British students, who also are worried about higher college fees. But she explained the German universities also are keen on recruiting American and other international students for their tuition-free programs. Science, math, and medical students once flocked to Germany from around the world, but as “scientific German” fell by the wayside, foreign achievers from Hong Kong to Cairo began to look elsewhere for courses in English.