BERLIN, April 5 (Xinhua) -- A growing number of Germans are attending university without having completed high school education prior to enrolling in higher education, German media reported on Thursday.

The reports cited a survey by the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE) which indicated that the number of students who enrolled in higher education without having taken the German A-level equivalents (Abitur) had doubled between 2010 and 2016.

German policymakers created a so-called "third education path" nearly ten years ago which enabled citizens to qualify for university places on the basis of work experience as opposed to A-levels. The path-way is particularly popular among mature students, with nearly every second university student without a high school diploma being above the age of 30, according to CHE.

Even oversubscribed and highly competitive university programs such as medicine are increasingly accessed via the third education path.

The number of Germans who successfully completed university after following the third education path reached its highest ever level in 2017, with 7,200 graduates.

"The combination of jobs- and higher education is becoming more and more normal", CHE director Frank Ziegele commented on the development.

Nevertheless, individuals without high school diplomas still accounted for 2.6 percent of all first-year university students.