There are two universities in Germany that are often quoted as the institutions Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga attended for his engineering studies.
The first one is the University of Leipzig and the second is the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg’s technical college that was known as Technische Hochschule.
A Technische Hochschulen is a type of university focusing on engineering sciences in Germany.
The University of Leipzig is found in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the world’s oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409.
It is reported that Raila graduated in 1970 from these institutions with a diplom (roughly equivalent to a Master’s degree) in Mechanical Engineering and Welding.
The Diplom had been adopted by the Technische Hochschulen (Institutes of Technology) which had received university status following this Prussian decree. Later, all German universities adopted the Diplom as their degree in Science or Engineering.
How educated is Raila Odinga? See his education and life profile
In East Germany, the Diplom was the only first degree and was also granted in disciplines such as medicine or law, which at West German universities were completed with a Staatsexamen.
Nowadays such diplomas are still granted to students of such disciplines, although most universities only grant the diplom status (for example “Diplom-Jurist” in law) on request. Some universities also grant a master’s degree (e.g. “Magister iuris”) to such students on request.
