The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has recently published its funding figures for the past year. These show the amounts of funding allocated to DAAD member universities and the number of scholarship holders supported there.

Universities in North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria were particularly successful in securing DAAD funding in 2025. The top-ranked DAAD member universities each received between eight and 17 million euros. The highest total funding, at 17 million euros, went to the Technical University of Munich, followed by the Technical University of Dresden with 12 million euros and the Technical University of Berlin with 11 million euros. In relation to their student numbers, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau and the ‘Ernst Busch’ Academy of Dramatic Arts performed best in the DAAD funding ranking.

In 2025, the largest number of DAAD scholarship holders were studying at universities in North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. The DAAD provided funding to a particularly large number of students and doctoral candidates at the Technical University of Munich (453), Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (395), Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (380), the Free University of Berlin (375) and Humboldt University of Berlin (350). In relation to their total student numbers, the Städelschule State Academy of Fine Arts, the Bauhaus University Weimar, the Cologne Academy of Media Arts, the Bremen University of the Arts and the Düsseldorf Art Academy were at the forefront.

Member universities in North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria were also particularly successful in securing DAAD project and programme funding. The highest levels of funding for DAAD projects and programmes were received by the technical universities in Berlin (six and a half million euros), Munich (six million euros) and Dresden (around five million euros). In terms of funding from the EU’s Erasmus+ programme, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, with around eight million euros, the Technical University of Munich, with just under seven million euros, and the University of Münster, with five million euros, were particularly successful.

Background

Since 2000, the DAAD has been compiling so-called funding reports for its current 244 member universities. These contain information on individual funding as well as programme and project funding. The DAAD publicly lists the 100 universities with the highest funding allocations and, in further reports, puts this into perspective in relation to the total number of students at each university.