Nearly 2.95 Million Students Study at German Universities in Winter 2021/22

A total of 2,947,500 students are enrolled at German universities in winter term 2021/22, according to preliminary data by the federal statistics agency Destatis.

During the 2021/22 winter semester, the number of students in Germany has increased by 3,400 compared to the last winter semester, Erudera.com reports.

Currently, a total of 1,752,700 students are enrolled at universities and colleges of the same rank, a decrease of 2 percent compared to winter term 2020/21, whereas the number of students enrolled at universities of applied sciences has increased by 3 percent compared to the last winter semester, reaching 1,097,500.

Moreover, in the current winter semester, administrative colleges have seen an increase of 5 percent compared to last winter semester, enrolling around 58,900 students, whereas art colleges have experienced an increase of 2 percent from the same period last year, welcoming some 38,400 students.

According to data, a total of 472,100 students started their higher education in Germany for the first time during the academic year 2021/22, a four percent decrease compared to 2020 and an eight percent decrease from 2017.

In 2020, the number of international students pursuing studies in Germany had dropped by 22 percent compared to a year earlier due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

However, Wissenschaft Weltoffen 2021 report by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW), indicated a slight increase in the number of international students in Germany during the 2020/21 academic year.

Data by DAAD have revealed that there were 325,000 students in the 2020/21 academic year, a 1.5 percent increase in a year.

“In addition to our member institutions’ great commitment, this was due to the fact that higher education institutions have made significant progress with regard to digitisation in the past year. This puts them in an excellent position to compete for the most talented minds around the world, once the coronavirus pandemic is over,” DAAD President Joybrato Mukherjee said.

The same report has shown that there were 64,000 first-year international students studying in Germany during 2020/21, 15,000 fewer students compared to a year earlier.

According to available data by Destatis, in the first semester of 2021 academic year, 42,100 freshmen started studying computer science, a six percent increase compared to 2020.

Differently, some 23,300 students joined mechanical / process engineering programs, 9 percent decrease since last year, while 13,100 students in electrical engineering and information technology and 11,000  students enrolled in civil engineering, 4 and 3 percent decrease, respectively.