Gerontological nursing and therapy (professional part-time)
Bachelor of Science (B. Sc.)

We know how exciting it can be to embark upon your degree programme, so we have arranged a special contact in case you have any questions about studying with us.

Contact for prospective students

• University Student Advisory Service

If you have any questions about studying or applying, please get in touch with the University Student Advisory Service. 

• Questions about course content

If you are interested in this degree programme and would like to ask any questions, please contact our programme advisor.

Existing students

If you have any questions about your degree programme, please contact our academic advisors.

There are no tuition fees for this degree programme. The only costs incurred will be the usual outgoings associated with studying, such as the semester fee, photocopying, buying books, etc. There might also be some field trips and travel expenses to off-site study locations. If studying will prevent you from otherwise working, you will need to consider loss of earnings, of course. There are various sources of funding to help you study. It is definitely worth checking whether you are eligible for Bafög or perhaps a bursary (Kempten University of Applied Sciences – bursaries). In particular, we would like to draw your attention to the Professional Advancement Bursary and the Germany Bursary.

During the programme, you can choose to take an additional module if you wish, for a fee, that formally qualifies you as a facility manager. The module is assessed by means of an oral examination. You then need to complete 40 hours with the management of an acute clinical facility, rehabilitation clinic or elderly care facility (partly or entirely residential). This enables previously trained carers or nurses to then add the formal qualification of care manager.

This programme qualifies you to undertake particularly complex and demanding tasks in treating, supporting and caring for elderly people. Potential fields of work include geriatric acute medical and rehabilitation clinics, gerontopsychiatric clinics, care facilities, hospices and palliative services, housing management, care advisory services, to name just a few. You will continue to work closely with people in need of care, but in a more independent position. You can find specific examples of professions and areas of work under “Prospects for graduates”.

Fundamentally, this degree programme aims to train students for working closely with patients / clients, but for greater responsibility, more complex requirements and managerial roles. However, it also qualifies you to perform activities that no longer contain nursing / therapeutic duties or direct contact with patients / clients.
Nonetheless, it doesn’t qualify you for conventional administrative positions in the health care sector, which require considerably more business and legal knowledge, as taught on the bachelor’s degree programme in health care sector management, for example.

It offers very good job prospects – in caring and nursing services, and even more so in geriatric clinics and local authority health service provisions. These organisations are crying out for trained staff, particularly those with specialist qualifications for working in geriatric clinics, as these are a legal requirement.
In terms of academically qualified health care specialists in general, numerous facilities are very interested in trying out new approaches to caring for and treating elderly people and developing new concepts, for which they require staff with new kinds of qualifications. Kempten University of Applied Sciences liaises closely with geriatric clinics and organisations around the Allgäu providing care for the elderly to alert them to the new cohort of graduates. Some of them are also involved in the degree programme, enabling you to make contact with prospective employers early on. In addition, the university informs geriatric-gerontologically relevant facilities, associations and networks all over southern Germany about this degree programme, so it’s becoming increasingly generally well known.

Until now, all the graduates from the previous degree programme in Geriatric Therapy, Rehabilitation and Nursing found appropriate positions in a wide range of jobs in health care services.

Possibly, although the university is not in a position to guarantee this, as salaries are either fixed or freely negotiated between employers and employees. Fundamentally, facilities interested in specialist health care staff with academic qualifications know that they have to offer commensurate salaries. If they are so inclined, they will generally find appropriate means of funding, although this proves easier for private operators than for state-run or church-funded facilities, who are bound to fixed remuneration scales. Having said that, there is also potential in those segments.

What you do in your free time as a student in pretty much entirely up to you. So working on the side is certainly an option. Almost all students do so. However, please be aware that you need to carefully plan time for private study to avoid hampering your academic performance as a whole. It is therefore advisable not to over-commit to paid work at the start of your studies so you can first of all gauge how much time you will need for studying and what scope there is for employment alongside. The lecture-free periods (15 Feb. – 14 March and 1 Aug. to 30 Sep.) lend themselves well to working extra hours to leave you more space during the semester.

No, this programme runs entirely in situ, i.e. almost all classes are held on campus, with a few conducted off-site (e.g. at a clinic or care facility) and only a tiny proportion (1 hour per week each semester) online. However, a substantial part of the degree programme consists of private study, such as in preparation for and after classes, writing study papers or revising for examinations. It is of course up to you where you spend this time.

No, but we strictly recommend attendance. For one, teaching – and thus learning successfully – thrives on direct exchange amongst students and between students and lecturers. Plus experience has shown at least a loose correlation between attending classes and achieving good results. In other words, the students who fail exams or scrape through with weak grades tend to be those s<who rarely attended the related classes.</p>

No, it’s absolutely essential to have trained in one of the cited vocations to be admitted to this degree. Even trained staff in similar vocations, for example curative education, are not currently admitted. Should any additional fields of training be accepted in the future, we will update the website accordingly.

As an alternative, you might consider studying for the B.Sc. in Nursing, fundamentally training you as an academically qualified nurse, commencing in Winter Semester 2021/2022 at Kempten University of Applied Sciences. Further details can be found here.

Yes, as long as your training has been deemed equivalent to one of those cited in accordance with the Law on Recognition of Vocational Qualifications (“Berufsqualifikationsfeststellungsgesetz”). If this isn’t the case, you can find information about the recognition process at www.bq-portal.de/en and www.anerkennung-in-deutschland.de/html/en. You can also seek assistance from the recognition advisory service “Tür an Tür” (“Door to door”) in Augsburg at: https://www.migranet.org/angebote/ratsuchende/anerkennungsberatung/aeb-kontakt#AEB-A.
Other advice centres around Germany can be found here: www.anerkennung-in-deutschland.de/html/de/beratungsstellen_iq_netzwerk.php.

Yes, candidates who are vocationally trained but don’t have a university entrance certificate (from a school or college) can also be admitted. Instead, you will need either a “promotional qualification” (master in trades or equivalent advanced training certificates or qualifications) or the relevant basic vocational training and at least three years of primary professional experience thereafter. You can find further details in the Bavarian Law on Higher Education or under Information for trained workers and masters of trades.

Yes, as long as you have completed training in one of the accepted vocations and have have a university entrance certificate from a school or college. If you don’t hold this kind of academic qualification, it is absolutely crucial to have gained at least three years of primary professional experience since completing your training. You can find further details in the Bavarian Law on Higher Education or under Information for trained workers and masters of trades.

Admission to this degree programme is not currently restricted, so all applicants who meet the admission criteria will be accepted.

There is no age limit, as it admissions are not restricted. (Article 1 para. 3 BayHZG sets a general age limit for all restricted-entry degree programmes, but that does not apply to unrestricted programmes such as this.)

That depends on both the content, duration and level of the training / professional development and whether it corresponds with any modules, or at least part-modules, on the programme. Please contact our academic advisors in the first instance to discuss the scope for counting further training towards the degree programme. The next step is to apply to the Examinations Board to consider your case. The Board will then check your particulars and decide whether the training can be counted or not.
As a principle, the university can count non-university performance towards a maximum of 50 percent of the credits required to complete degree programmes. As you would already be awarded 70 of the full 210 Credit Points for the first two semesters on the basis of non-university performance, this leaves a maximum of 35 Credit Points that can potentially be credited in this way.

The practical semester is taken as covered by your vocational training, as the practical parts of that serve the same purpose as the practical semester and lasted considerably longer. Nonetheless, practical elements (e.g. short internships, placements, practical teaching, project work) are included in various modules.

The semester dates are shown in the calendar. You can use the lecture-free periods for studying, if required, but as a rule there really aren’t any commitments during those times. You can check the precise times and locations for classes under the tab “Where and when”.