Education in Germany

History

2022: Schools ban Microsoft Office 365

On November 30, 2022, it became known that the German Federal Data Protection Authorities banned the use of the Microsoft Office 365 cloud application package in the country's schools.

The reason for the decision is the lack of clarity as to how personal user data is collected, processed and used. In addition, there is a risk of unauthorized transfer of personal information of European citizens to the United States, as well as access to it by third parties. The German DSK group, which includes the German Federal Office for Data Protection and 16 government regulators, concluded that Microsoft's cloud office service does not comply with European GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

{{quote 'Microsoft does not disclose in detail what information processing operations are carried out. In addition, the company does not specify what actions are performed on behalf of the client and which ones are performed for their own purposes. The use of personal data of users (for example, employees of organizations or students) in the interests of the provider excludes the possibility of using the product in the public sector, especially in schools, the DSK said. }} Due to the lack of transparency in the work of Office 365, German regulators cannot reliably establish what kind of information Microsoft collects and how this information is used in the future. It is also emphasized that using the Office 365 cloud package is impossible without sending certain data to servers in the United States. In other words, it is impossible to organize the storage of information exclusively in Germany. The report also notes that the decision regarding Microsoft can be extended to other similar products, in particular, to cloud services Apple and Google.^[1]

Libraries

2021: Germany has 8,195 public libraries

Countries- leaders by the number of public libraries. Data for 2021

Education costs

Доля затрат на education GDP from countries in 2017. Blue: primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education. Blue: higher (tertiary) education

Literacy rate

The average literacy rate in countries around the world is about 69%. Data at the end of 2018

Chronicle

Notes