Students at colleges: the number rises to 2.8 million – new record

This is only a small plus, but the trend is still clear: every year, more and more young people are studying in Germany. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the number of students rose to 2,867,500 in the winter semester 2018/2019. That's 22,600 more than the previous year, an increase of 0.8%.

Statisticians have been reporting new records for years. By way of comparison, in 1996 the Federal Office had only about 1.8 million students in Germany, compared to just under two million in 2006.

However, the number of undergraduates is declining: fewer young people are enrolling to study at a university or college. During the current semester, 508,800 Erstis were present. Compared with the previous year, a loss of 0.9%. In 2016/2017, the number of undergraduates has already stagnated. So, the trend is in the process of reversing.

More undergraduate students in administrative colleges and in STEM subjects

This is what college colleges feel most clearly. Here, the number of new employees has decreased by 2.5%. In the universities, the drop was 1.6%, in the universities of applied sciences only 0.2%. On the other hand, the administrative colleges recorded a net increase of 8.3%.

Statisticians also publish issues on four MINT topics. As a result, the number of new computer science students increases by 1%. In electricity and computer science, it was 3.4% higher, civil engineers 1.3%. The subject of mechanical engineering / process engineering, however, fell by 1.5%.

More men than women

Overall, German men study slightly more than women. The difference, however, is small – and students are catching up year after year: their numbers have increased from 1.6% to 1.4 million

Within the disciplines, there are still major differences, which emerges from the preliminary report of the statisticians at least of the evaluation of the four STEM subjects: Thus, the number of women among the students in computer science, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering maximum one quarter. Only with the civil engineers, it looks a little better. Here, the proportion of women is greater than 30%.

Federal states have different levels of profit and loss. The largest increase was recorded in Schleswig-Holstein. 3.4% more people were studying here compared to the previous year. Berlin, Bavaria, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia each have a plus of at least one percent.

In contrast, the number of students from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania decreased the most (1.9%). Thuringia also recorded a drop of 0.7%. In Bremen, Brandenburg, Baden-Württemberg and Thüringen, the loss is reduced from minus 0.1% to minus 0.3%.

Rectors want more security in planning

The President of the Conference of German Rectors, Peter-André Alt, has called for more support from the federal government and the states because of the numbers. The steady increase in the number of students is not a one-off effect of dual high school diplomas, but because of the increased participation in education, has it? he declares.

Universities should expand their courses accordingly – and needed planning security. Specifically, Alt criticized the limitation of the university pact and its amount.

The amount that universities receive depends on the number of freshmen. However, forecasts from the Conference of Ministers of Education are used for the calculation, Alt said. This is still lower than the actual number of undergraduates.