Germany is World’s Third Most Attractive Destination for Foreign Students

367,578 foreign students were enrolled at German universities in the winter semester of 2022-23. That’s the figure in the latest “Wissenschaft weltoffen” publication by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Center for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW).

That figure represents an increase of five percent over the previous year and takes Germany past Australia up to the number three on the list of the most popular countries for foreign students. According to the DAAD, DZHW and the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), only the United States and Britain are more popular.

“Germany continues to be extremely attractive for international students and researchers,” said German Education and Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger in a statement. “That’s very good news for Germany as a business location amid the global shortage in specialist labor.”

“The rise into the top three has been encouraged, in particular, by the high quality of academic education, the absence of tuition fees and the career opportunities on the German labor market for university and college graduates,” said DAAD President Prof. Joybrato Mukherjee.

“It’s no accident that 29 percent of the academic personnel at the large German research institutes like the Max Planck Society and the Leibniz Society come from abroad,” added DZHW Academic Chairwoman Prof. Monika Jungbauer-Gans.