Hochschule

Rather than as an umbrella term, Hochschule is also increasingly used as a specialized term, i.e. for institutions that:

• do not cover a large diversity of academic fields, but focus on certain areas;
• do not have the right to award doctorates, but bachelor's degrees and master's degrees.

Institutions that are called Hochschule meet one or more of these criteria, which differentiate them from an Universität. In recent years, a number of German Fachhochschulen opted to name themselves Hochschule or Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften (university of applied sciences) rather than Fachhochschule. Additionally, there are specialized Hochschulen which focus on a particular set of disciplines, e.g., Kunsthochschulen (art schools), and share the same legal status as regular universities.

In most German states, a Berufsakademie is not a Hochschule by either of the definitions because the bachelor's degrees conferred by such are professional degrees, which are de jure not academic degrees. However the state of Baden-Württemberg, from where this type of tertiary sector education originally emerged, has recently elevated these institutions to the status of a Hochschule as Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University. The degrees awarded by the latter are academic degrees and equivalent to those awarded by Fachhochschulen and regular universities.^[3]

Look up Hochschule in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• a Volkshochschule, despite its name, is not a Hochschule as described here