New figures show that international students now make up nearly 15 per cent of Germany’s total student population.
According to the latest official enrolment data, the number of international students attending German universities increased to 393,579 as of winter semester 2018/19, reports Studying-in-Germany.org. International student numbers have greatly expanded recent years following the abolishment of international tuition fees in 2014.
A majority of these international students were studying at universities (257,089) including 90,879 first-year students, whereas another 122,625 students were studying at colleges (Fachschule).
Engineering is the most attractive subject to study for overseas students in Germany. As of 2018/19, German engineering schools counted a number of 32,373 non-German students. Law, business and social sciences are also very popular. There were 26,997 international students studying for a university degree in one of these subjects as of winter semester 2018/19.
The highest number of non-German students was recorded in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria, with 12,882 foreign students who enrolled in the former, and 10,472 in the latter.
The top countries where Germany’s international students hail from are China, Turkey, India, Italy, Russia, Austria, Ukraine, Syria, Iran, and France.
In many key global university rankings, German universities stand alongside the best in the world.
Article published 22nd August 2019