Ministry plans to drop German requirement for humanities track

The Ministry of Education plans to remove preparatory German instruction as an admission requirement for the humanities track in upper secondary education, KVF reports.

A proposal has been sent out for consultation.

The requirement was introduced in 2023. Applications for the humanities track have since fallen from 154 in 2022 to 88 last year and 73 this year.

The ministry says it is likely that the German requirement has led students to choose the business and economics track instead of the humanities track, not because of academic interest but to avoid having to study German.

Students with a strong academic and personal interest in the humanities may also be prevented from applying if they did not choose German in compulsory school, the ministry says.

Education Minister Bárður á Lakjuni says the coalition has set out to review admission requirements from compulsory school to upper secondary education.

The aim is to establish the same admission requirements for all academic upper secondary tracks, so that a completed compulsory school qualification provides access to all of them.