[Postgraduate qualifications in epidemiology in Germany. Experiences in Berlin, the current situation and future prospects]

[The current public health situation in Germany]

The article describes the development of health sciences/public health at German universities in the 1990s. This process had scientific objectives and kept a certain distance from the Public Health Service. The evaluation of findings made in public health locations shows that they successfully cover the relevant issues of health science. Professionalization has been achieved by the establishment of postgraduate teaching at the universities and degree courses at the "universities of applied sciences" (Fachhochschulen). Research conducted on the subsequent careers of university graduates reveals an impressive labour market demand for the qualifications that have been acquired. The theoretical and methodological professionalization of the subject in Germany was possible because the respective universities had recourse to the internationally recognized concepts of the schools of public health. The article shows that the structural establishment of public health at universities could, however, quickly be called into question if basic conditions were to change. Germany still has a long way to go before it can claim to have strong schools of public health.