Bachelor’s degree just after the Abitur

In the winter semester of 2004/05, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) became the first university in southern Germany to introduce a Frühstudium programme. It enables particularly talented and motivated school pupils from Year 10 onwards – and, in exceptional cases, from Year 9 – to attend regular university courses, take examinations, and have the credits they earn recognised towards a later degree programme.

The selection process for the Frühstudium is organised and conducted by JMU’s Counselling Centre for the Gifted. “It is not simply a matter of selecting pupils with particularly good school grades,” says Professor Tobias Richter, Director of the Counselling Centre. “What also matters are their aptitude and motivation for the particular subject, as well as whether they are able to cope well with the additional challenge of university study alongside school.”

Almost 1,000 Frühstudium students have taken advantage of the programme since then, with just over 50 participating each semester. Veit Lang was one of them from the winter semester of 2021/22 onwards. “During the coronavirus pandemic, I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands. I was interested in university courses and started following lectures online,” he says, recalling his first experiences of university life.

While most Frühstudium students take one or two courses per semester, and only one in eight participates in the programme for at least four semesters, the recent graduate of Egbert-Gymnasium in Münsterschwarzach has set several records.

Outstanding on several levels

With a total of ten semesters, Veit Lang participated in the Frühstudium longer than any student before him – and he made highly effective use of his time at university. During his Frühstudium, he not only earned the 180 ECTS credits required for a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, including his Bachelor’s thesis. “In fact, Veit accumulated an impressive 243 ECTS credits, meaning that he earned more credits than required in several compulsory elective areas,” says Dr Richard Greiner, subject coordinator for the Frühstudium at JMU.

It is not only the quantity that is impressive: the quality of Veit Lang’s achievements during the Frühstudium was also exceptional. He achieved an overall grade of 1.0 – with distinction – for his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and achieved the highest mark among all candidates in several examinations.

As if that were not impressive enough, during his final four semesters he also added a Frühstudium in Physics to his programme.

A first for Würzburg

Veit Lang is thus the first Frühstudium student at JMU to fulfil all the requirements for a Bachelor’s degree – and the second to complete the requirements for an academic degree. In 2011, Sebastian Weingärtner received his Diplom certificate in Computer Science at the age of 19. Achievements of this kind are extremely rare throughout Germany.

Veit Lang is also 19. When he submitted his Bachelor’s thesis in August, completing the final requirement for his degree, his Abitur examinations were only a few months behind him. “It was certainly very challenging. On many days, I went to bed exhausted. But on at least as many, I really enjoyed heading to university.”

An exceptional achievement calls for an exceptional administrative process

Just how unusual such a scenario is becomes clear from the administrative process required before Veit Lang can actually receive his university degree certificate.

At a German university, an academic degree can only be awarded to someone who is formally enrolled as a regular student. Enrolment, in turn, requires a university entrance qualification – in Veit Lang’s case, the Abitur.

This means that he can only formally enrol for the upcoming winter semester 2026/27. After that, however, everything will happen very quickly. “On 1 October 2026, the first day of the administrative period for the winter semester, Veit will go through an expedited recognition procedure in which all the credits he earned during his Frühstudium will be recognised,” says Richard Greiner.

On the same day, he will receive his Bachelor’s degree certificate and final transcript – giving him everything he needs to begin a Master’s degree immediately.

Continuing his path at JMU

Veit Lang, who comes from Hörblach in the district of Kitzingen, will also pursue his Master’s degree at the University of Würzburg. He has chosen Mathematical Physics – in a sense, a combination of the two subjects in which he was already exceptionally successful during his Frühstudium.

JMU President Paul Pauli is delighted: “This is a truly exceptional achievement by an exceptional young man. Excellent students are one of the cornerstones of our university. We are therefore all the more pleased that Veit Lang, who is undoubtedly one of them, will be staying with us at JMU.”

Facts and figures about the Frühstudium

Under the motto “Wanting to know more and being able to take on more”, JMU became the first university in southern Germany to introduce a Frühstudium programme in the winter semester of 2004/05, opening it up to virtually its entire range of subjects. JMU’s Counselling Centre for the Gifted has supported the Frühstudium since its inception and is responsible for the selection process.

The University expects to welcome its 1,000th Frühstudium student next year. JMU’s Frühstudium students come from around 80 Gymnasien in the surrounding region.

Almost half participate in the Frühstudium for two or more semesters, while around one in eight does so for at least four semesters. Mathematics is the most popular subject, accounting for around 25 per cent of Frühstudium students. It is followed by Chemistry, Computer Science, and Physics, each with around 10 per cent. In recent semesters, between 50 and 60 Frühstudium students have been active at JMU. These numbers are expected to rise slightly with the return to the nine-year Gymnasium system (G9).

The Frühstudium is aimed at school pupils with a strong interest in a particular subject that goes beyond what can be taught and explored at school. It is complemented by the Unitag programme, which allows pupils to attend selected courses in several subjects on Fridays for one semester.