A student at Hamburg University for the last 14 years, Niels Annen is also a Social Democrat member of parliament. But after 28 semesters of failing to hand in his homework, he's decided it's finally time to drop out.

Students often get a bad rap. All they supposedly do is loaf around delaying the evil hour when they have to get a job -- watching daytime TV, not doing the washing-up and scrounging off the state. 

But not Niels Annen.

No one could accuse him of ducking hard work. A member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid, the Social Democrats' National Party Executive as well as the party's program and international commission, Niels Annen is clearly a man who can multi-task.

Or maybe not. Because there's one thing he still hasn't got round to doing, and that's graduating from university.

Germany's eternal students

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  Who needs a college degree? Not Niels Annen

Enrolled at the University of Hamburg since 1994, Annen has never quite managed to finish his degree in history, geography and Latin American studies. And while he might be an expert on German foreign policy, Latin conjugations defeat him.

"Despite revising, I failed to get a pass in the Latin exam I need to continue studying history," he revealed this week.

Now 35, he's accepted that he'll never wear that graduation gown.

At least explaining such a glaring gap in his resume isn't as hard in Germany as it might be elsewhere. In a country with a 25 percent drop out rate, where the average student spends 13.5 semesters at college and finally leaves school at age 32 after breaks for travel, work or military service, Annen's epic sojourn in the corridors of learning is a little excessive but nothing unusual.

Broken promises

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  Annen broke a promise to his Hamburg constituents

Nonetheless, there comes a time when enough is enough.

When Annen became MP for the working-class neighborhood of Hamburg-Eimsbüttel in 2005, he promised he would graduate before the end of his four-year term.

It didn't happen.

"I've been inundated with work since my election," he explained in a letter to his party and constituents. "I now need to devote my time to my political work."

As an excuse, it beats "the dog ate my assignment."

But his constituents should beware: a little learning is a dangerous thing.