Hardly anyone who has studied Islamic theology or religious education at a German university then works full-time as an imam.
This is shown by a study for which researchers from Frankfurt, Gießen and Mainz interviewed a good 200 graduates of these courses.
According to the Goethe University-based Academy for Islam in Science and Society, up to 2,500 students are enrolled in subjects related to Islamic religion in Germany.
Almost half of the graduates work in social work or related professional fields.
Another 40 percent have a teaching job.
In retrospect, many see their studies as a phase of intellectual and personal development, but would also have liked better professional preparation for their later activities.
Of those who studied to become a teacher, two thirds would choose this path again.
Only half of the graduates with a theological focus say this.