In today's forest hierarchy you find the higher, the upper and the middle grade. Currently an academic education at a forestry faculty of a university, a following two-year clerkship at a state forest administration and a final Large Forest State examination are required for the higher service.
The training for the district forester for the upper grade takes place at a College of Forestry, followed by one year's time contender in a national forest administration, followed by the Forestry State examination for foresters and forest managers.
In the future there will probably be less and less contenders and clerks. After the Bachelor or Master degree from a (technical) college students can enter a state forest administration after a two-year trainee program, as already in Schleswig-Holstein and Baden-Württemberg.
In Germany you can study forestry at five colleges (Göttingen, Munich, Rottenburg, Erfurt, Eberswalde) and four universities (Göttingen, Munich, Dresden, Freiburg).
In the middle grade there have also been significant changes in recent years. So far internal educations for future lumberjacks were held at forestry schools. New training courses as for the forestry technician are coming. Many smaller community forests and forest districts are supervised by employees of the lower grade.