Are you already working in health care and would now like to focus specifically in elderly welfare? This bachelor’s degree programme prepares you exceptionally well for performing responsible and complex tasks in advising, treating, supporting and caring for the elderly.
It is directed at state-certified (in Germany) staff trained in elderly care, health care and (paediatric) nursing, physiotherapy, ergotherapy or professional nurses wishing to specialise in geriatric needs. Throughout your studies, we support you with tutorials, small learning groups, special programmes for students and intensive mentoring for final theses.
In addition, you can expect practically relevant teamwork and learning, a friendly atmosphere and professors who know you by name.
Apply linkBachelor of Science (B. Sc.)
part-time professional
7 Semester
210
winter semester
no
German
Social and Health Studies
optional
in the course of implementation
This degree programme builds upon the training conducted for certified health care professions (see applying and admissions), which can be counted as 70 ECTS Credit Points, in which case the programme can be completed in professional part-time mode over seven semesters.
To make it as easy as possible to combine studying with work commitments, we plan in firmly scheduled study days. Classes are held during four-day blocks at the start and end of each semester together with one day per week in between. The timetable for these is firmly fixed for at least two semesters, allowing rotas to be worked out well in advance to accommodate students’ needs.
Upon successfully completing this degree programme, you will qualify as a gerontologist and the university of applied sciences will award you the academic degree of Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) .
This professional part-time degree programme is not designed to accommodate “sandwich” options.
You can find further information about “hochschule dual” on our website.
Professional environment
This programme qualifies you to undertake particularly complex and demanding tasks in advising, treating, supporting and caring for elderly people. Treating, rehabilitating and caring for geriatric patients calls for specially trained staff. Advising and caring for the elderly in their own homes, local authority care facilities or homes for the elderly calls for experts who combine specialist knowledge with skills in advising and planning provision. Our graduates work on full-time and wards, in out-patient clinics or for local authorities, as well as in consultancy roles or for service providers.
Career prospects
By earning a university degree in “Gerontological Nursing and Therapy”, you will play a pioneering role in driving up academic standards in the health care professions. You can work throughout the entire health care sector – in hospitals, clinics, out-patient clinics, hospices, day and short-term care, medical centres, rehabilitation facilities, elderly and social care homes, or for health insurance funds, training providers, local authority care advisory services or housing management.
Potential roles include:
Specific jobs and roles stem from continuing developments in the health sector and the latest legal provisions, according to the changing requirements that need determining and directing collaboratively between the different professions.
Successful completion of the third semester of this degree programme already earns students official recognition as specialist staff by the MDK Bayern, by providing the required evidence of at least 180 hours of structured curricular additional training in geriatrics to fulfil the technical requirements of OPS 8-550.
In the course of your studies, you will acquire the additional qualifications of “gerontopsychiatric specialist” (§§ 78‑81 AVPfleWoQuG) and “care adviser” (§ 7a SGB XI).
You can also earn the qualification of “care manager” and “facility manager” (if already a trained carer) by taking an additional module and attending a group seminar (§ 12 AVPfleWoQuG). Upon graduation, you can apply for certification as a practice manager according to Bavarian (or other state) regulations. These two supplementary qualifications incur modest additional costs. These two supplementary qualifications incur modest additional costs.
Application process
We have pooled all the information and details you might need about applying and the admission requirements .
Admission requirements
Have you already completed state-certified training in Germany in elderly care, medical and (paediatric) nursing, physiotherapy, ergotherapy or nursing, and are you particularly interested in the health, psychological and social concerns of the elderly? Then you meet the criteria for this bachelor’s degree programme to a tee!
Even if you are not automatically eligible for university, you can also apply on the basis of your vocational qualifications – in the form of either a “promotional qualification” (master in trades or equivalent advanced 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.
We ascribe to the values of openness, tolerance and acceptance. Our aim is to teach everyone involved at Kempten University of Applied Sciences about education in an international context. As part of this, we support university-wide, inter-faculty measures to promote international projects and cross-cultural interaction aimed at promoting diversity.
Academic achievements from studies abroad can be counted towards this degree programme if the skills in question are broadly similar.
Would you like to learn more about our international focus and the options we offer to study abroad? Then please take a closer look at our portal.
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
If you have any questions about studying or applying, please get in touch with the University Student Advisory Service.
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.