Studying
Interested in studying in Germany? A good choice – congratulations! Find some vital initial information here.
Interested in studying in Germany? A good choice – congratulations! Find some vital initial information here.
Many different options are available, depending on what and how you want to study: first there are the conventional universities with their wide selection of subjects, and then there are the universities of applied sciences, known in German as either Hochschulen für Angewandte Wissenschaften (HAWs) or Fachhochschulen (FHs), which offer programmes that are geared more to practical applications.
In addition, there are various art and music colleges, plus special institutions that are not freely accessible to all, such as police training academies and colleges of public administration.
Our map of Germany shows how many universities of each type there are and where they are located.
Source: www.hochschulkompass.de
German universities do not regard themselves as “schools” for students but as places that combine research and teaching. The 120 universities are research-oriented for the most part and offer a wide range of subjects, including everything from Academic Speech Therapy to Yiddish Culture, Language and Literature. They also include Germany’s 14 technical universities which focus on engineering and science subjects. Universities are generally entitled to confer doctorates.
HAWs combine practical science and application-based teaching. More than a million students, including over 96,000 international students, opt to study at one of these universities of applied sciences. As a rule, the spectrum of subjects on offer is more focused, with most HAWs specialising in technical, engineering, scientific, economic or social scientific fields. They are the ideal choice for you if you are seeking a specifically practice-oriented qualification.
Another key difference between higher education institutions in Germany concerns their funding source: two thirds of the country’s more than 400 higher education institutions are state-funded, over 110 are private, and nearly another 40 are run by one of the churches.
The European network Eurydice explains how higher education is organised in Germany.
More than 400
higher education
institutions
Around 1,800
degree programmes taught
in English
Roughly 5,400
DAAD-funded
international students
More than
325,000
international
students
2020/21; sources: HRK; Destatis, DAAD
Germany is one of the signatories to the Bologna Declaration and therefore part of the European Higher Education Area, which now encompasses 49 countries. Among other things, this means that all countries have comparable higher education structures and a tiered system of degree qualifications.
Currently, higher education institutions in Germany offer around 9,500 undergraduate courses that lead to a bachelor’s degree.
9,500
bachelor’s degree courses
in Germany
The bachelor’s degree is the first degree that qualifies a person for a profession and corresponds to level 6 of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED).
There are various types of bachelor’s degree:
Bachelor of Arts (B. A.)
Bachelor of Science (B. Sc.)
Bachelor of Engineering (B. Eng.)
Bachelor of Laws (LL. B.)
Bachelor of Fine Arts (B. F. A.)
Bachelor of Music (B. Mus.)
Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.)
Normally a bachelor’s degree course takes six to eight semesters to complete. In Germany, nearly 300 bachelor’s programmes are taught in English. You can find out from the Higher Education Compass which degree courses are on offer in which language.
You can find out about the structure and content of the degree programme in the module handbooks and examination and study regulations, most of which are available online.
You can follow your bachelor’s degree up with a course of secondary studies. To obtain a master’s, you will generally have to study for an additional four semesters – at universities of applied sciences it could be either three or four. Master’s programmes take the form of either research- or application-oriented courses, and are either consecutive (to follow on from a specific bachelor’s degree) or continuing education courses.
A master’s degree corresponds to level 7 of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED).
The following degree types are awarded:
Master of Arts (M. A.)
Master of Science (M. Sc.)
Master of Engineering (M. Eng.)
Master of Laws (LL. M.)
Master of Fine Arts (M. F. A.)
Master of Music (M. Mus.)
Master of Education (M. Ed.)
Continuing education master’s courses may lead to different degree designations, such as Master of Business Administration (MBA).
Around 2,100 international programmes, including roughly 1,400 master’s courses (as per August 2022), can be found on the DAAD website.
Germany is a good place to study: the country’s higher education institutions enjoy an excellent international reputation. They also offer a broad spectrum of interesting degree courses. Here are some good reasons to choose Germany for your university studies:
Excellent reputation of higher education institutions
High quality of degree programmes
Internationally recognised degree qualifications
No tuition fees at many universities
Many courses taught in English
“For me, it is very important to get an internationally recognised degree. A German degree is a sign of a high quality education.”
Jonas Sidabras, 23, from Lithuania has been in Germany since 2017 and is studying medicine at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf.
Jonas is planning to spend a semester studying in Prague with Erasmus+. As he explains: “First and foremost, you have to know why you want a particular scholarship.”
More infos: www.study-in-germany.de/.