I am really confused by the difference between Hochschule (university of applied sciences) and (Technische) Universität ((technical) university) in Germany, especially with respect to the master’s degree.
What is the main difference and features?
Can a master graduate from Hochschule have a chance to do PhD like a graduate from a university in Europe, US, Canada or Australia?
First we should get the words right. In Germany, a Hochschule is the general name for higher education. A University and a University of Applied Science are both a Hochschule. It is the generalization.
A Fachhochschule on the other hand is just the University of Applied Science.
When it comes to Germany, a graduate from a "Fachhochschule" is allowed to write his or her PhD at a normal university. However, some universities may have some reservations and force you to "prove" your scientific skills, or to attend additional classes.
From the legal point of view, an M.Sc. from the Fachhochschule is equal to the one of the University. However, the Fachhochschule often awards the Master of Engineering, instead of the Master of Science from the University. (While the M.Eng still allows you to write the PHD)
The term "University of applied sciences" is an attempt at translating the name "Fachhochschule" for the international audience. The issue with this wording is that they are not universities.
They give vocational degrees geared at preparing students to enter the workforce directly. These degrees are typically valued in industry and government or healthcare settings, not so much in academic ones. Note that the Bachelor/Masters system has been (somewhat awkwardly) patched over the previous education system in German-speaking countries. A Bachelor from a Fachhochschule typically cannot get you admitted in a Masters at a Technical university.
What complicates the issue is that some institutions with the word "Hochschule" in their names have university accreditation. These and technical universities offer more fundamental learning, an education more suitable to pursue academic careers.
Both the answers by Cape Code and user6522399 are spot on. Two other things are:
One additional difference, albeit not related to Master studies but important nontheless: A Fachhochschule usually does not award PhD degrees. It used to be like this throughout Germany, but things changed very recently. So if you get an MSc (or MEng) from a Fachhochschule you will have to change places in most cases.
A bit more related to Master studies: Fachhochschulen do not have the mission to train the students for research - as Cape Code said, they train students to get jobs in companies. Their training is often much more hands on and not focusing on fundamental issues that much. That said, I know at least one Master student from a Fachhochschule who wrote good PhD thesis at a university later…
I did my bachelor of art in a FH. I was confused about it too. Some of the answers are correct here, but some are not. So few things to clarify:
Few things to add: If you have chance or not, it depends on your curriculum (if you have learned and practiced research methods needed...) and degree (as long as you have M.S. or M.A.). (Also, connection with the professors, funding availabilities, etc...) Legally there is no problem, but of course, it depends on the skills you have acquired during your studies. If you get into only FH Masters, it’s not the end of the world. In Germany, you can take additional courses or be guest students at other research universities in your region too. (I think you need to pay in certain areas, but in some regions, this is possible and completely free) Just try to get good grades in those additional courses in research universities to prove yourself, it will count.
Since you have asked this question five years ago, things have changed and more people from Fachhochschulen are doing PhDs (although you still have to have a supervisor from a proper university). I know many people who do a joint PhD, where they stay at the Fachhochschule and do their research there (most of the time applied research), but are enrolled as a PhD student at a proper University. The main issue is that many of the disciplines that one can study at a Fachhochschule differ from the disciplines that are taught at proper universities, so finding a supervisor can be challenging, as their specialty might be quite far from the aspiring PhD students area of study. Thus, it is quite common that the PhD candidate from the Fachhochschule needs to take several additional courses. In general, if you have really good grades and are determined to do your PhD, is is perfectly possible to do it even with a Fachhochschul-Master, albeit it will probably take a bit more effort than for those coming from a proper university.
There are efforts to give even (select) Fachhochschulen the so called "Promotionsrecht", allowing professors from Fachhochschulen to supervise the PhD candidates on their own, without aonther professor from a proper university necessary.
One thing to add is, that since some years, professors at Fachhochschulen are requiered to have a PhD themselves (that was not the case until a few years back). Because of this, some Fachhochschulen have difficulties in finding appropriate candidates (as people with the right, applied skills often don't have a PhD) and often professor posts are vacant as a result. So as a Fachhochschul-PhD holder, it might be easier to attain a professorship as they are in high demand.
