German unis prove popular

Among the non-English-speaking countries, Germany is now the most popular host country for students from abroad. Behind the USA, Great Britain and Australia, the Federal Republic has in other words ousted France from the number-four slot. In 2016 just short of 252,000 people studied in Germany having completed high school in another country. According to the new report “Wissenschaft weltoffen 2019” released by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW), this is approx. 6,000 more than in France.

The figures continue to rise. While no comparable data is available for after 2016, there are more up-to-date numbers out for Germany: In the winter semester 2017-8 a total of 375,000 students with foreign backgrounds were enrolled in German tertiary education institutions, of whom 282,000 were officially classified as foreign students, having gained a university entrance certificate in another country. The list of countries of origin is led by China with 37,000 students, ahead of India (17,300), Austria (11,100), Russia (10,800), Italy (8,900) and Syria (8,600).

“The results demonstrate more than simply the high quality of the German science and university system. Last year, there were almost 42,000 international graduates who form a significant and growing pool to help cover the need for skilled labour in Germany,” is what Federal Minister of Education Anja Karliczek had to say on the report.

According to DZHW’s “21. Sozialerhebung”, the main reasons why young people choose to study in Germany are: expectations of good career opportunities (83 percent), the high standard of education (76 percent), internationally recognized degrees (74 percent) and the outstanding reputation of German universities (71 percent). Moreover, unlike the English-speaking countries, studying in Germany is largely tuition-fee free.

According to “Wissenschaft weltoffen”, in 2016 almost 145.000 German students sought to graduate abroad, and about one third of all German students spent time in another country during their studies. Moreover, in 2017 more than 108,000 foreign academics worked in Germany.

deutschland.de (with material from DAAD/dpa)