International Orientation

Germany appeals to young people from all over the world as a place to study. About 250,000 foreign students are enrolled at German universities, 70 percent more than in 1995. Today, more than every tenth student comes from abroad, the largest numbers coming from Eastern Europe and China. Germany is the third most preferred host country for international students, following the United States and Great Britain.

This success German universities have had in Internationalization is the product of the joint efforts of each and every university and politicians. Thus, an image campaign for German universities was launched a few years ago together with university organisations. Moreover, with government support several universities have participated in founding partner universities in other countries, including Singapore (TU Munich), Cairo (Ulm and Stuttgart universities) and Seoul (the Weimar Academy of Music). As a rule, the DAAD, German Academic Exchange Service, lead manages such foreign initiatives – it is dedicated to international exchange programs for students and scientists alike, and supports offices, lecturers or alumni associations in over 100 countries. It also played a role in setting up hundreds of foreign-language courses (frequently in English) at German universities.