Vibrant Hub of Knowledge

Germany enjoys a reputation around the world for its strength in innovation and wide-ranging academic and research system. The country’s 426 higher education institutions are the foundation of this success. Industrial research forms another key element in Germany’s status as a higher education location. One sign of this strength is that Germany is among the world’s leading nations in terms of numbers of patent applications. Germany’s four major non-university research institutes enjoy an excellent international reputation and play a key role in Germany's scientific and academic success. They are the:

• Fraunhofer Fraunhofer The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft conducts applied research. Clients include industrial companies and service providers as well as the public sector. More than 30,000 employees are involved in generating the annual research volume of 3 billion euros. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft operates 76 institutes and… Read more › -Gesellschaft
• Helmholtz Association Helmholtz Association With 18 research centres, an annual budget of EUR 5.8 billion and more than 43,000 members of staff the Helmholtz Association is Germany’s largest scientific organization. It conducts research into energy, the earth and the environment, health, aerospace, transport, materials and key technologies. … Read more ›
• Leibniz Association Leibniz Association Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) was one of the last all-round scholars. The scientific range covered by the 97 research institutes is correspondingly broad, extending from the humanities and economics through to mathematics. The focus is on applied basic research. The Leibniz institutes… Read more ›
• Max Planck Society Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society was founded on 26 February 1948 – as the successor to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften, established in 1911. The 85 Max Planck institutes conduct basic research in the natural, biological and social sciences and in the humanities. The Max… Read more ›

Germany invests heavily in research and science to safeguard and further consolidate this innovative capacity. This puts the Federal Republic among a leading group of nations that invest around 3% of GDP annually in research and development. By 2030, the proportion of total state expenditure is to rise to at least 3.5%.

Even beyond the domain of cutting-edge research, the German education system is very well tailored to the needs of the employment market, especially by international standards. Roughly 80% of adults have attained the university entrance qualification (Abitur) or hold a vocational training Vocational training Dual vocational training is quite unique internationally. After leaving school, many young people follow one of more than 300 state-recognised apprenticeship training programmes under the dual system. This entry into professional life differs from vocational training based only in colleges such as… Read more › qualification. As such, Germany reflects the average level of countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Germany’s dual system of vocational education and training has long been a key element of this and enjoys an excellent reputation internationally.

The number of university students has risen sharply in recent years. In response, the federal and state governments adopted the Higher Education Pact 2020 which provides funding for more places on university courses. Building on this, federal and state governments have implemented a “future agreement” to improve conditions for students and teaching quality in the long term.

The Federal Government Federal Government The Federal Government and cabinet is made up of the Federal Chancellor and the Federal Ministers. While the Chancellor holds the power to issue directives, the ministers have departmental powers, meaning that they independently run their respective ministries in the framework of those directives… Read more › ’s Excellence Strategy supports pioneering research at universities. The Strategy funds Clusters of Excellence for targeted areas of research and Universities of Excellence, which are acknowledged internationally as beacons of outstanding higher education. From 2026, 687 million euros will be available each year for the programme as a whole.

• Berlin Berlin Once a year, during the Berlinale film festival, the world of the silver screen focuses its attention on Berlin. And the city’s inhabitants are used to global interest. After all, the people of Berlin have lived in a capital city since 1458. However, there is also a shady side to the city’s history… Read more › University Alliance
• University of Tübingen
• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
• Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
• RWTH Aachen University
• University of Bonn
• Dresden University of Technology
• Technical University of Munich (TUM)
• Universität Hamburg Hamburg In the city and state of Hamburg it is the port that is the power-house of the economy, though with Airbus, Otto Versand and Beiersdorf also located here, this is not immediately apparent. The tanker terminals, mean that almost all the major oil-refining companies are represented in the port. For… Read more ›
• Heidelberg University
• University of Konstanz

The Federal Government Federal Government The Federal Government and cabinet is made up of the Federal Chancellor and the Federal Ministers. While the Chancellor holds the power to issue directives, the ministers have departmental powers, meaning that they independently run their respective ministries in the framework of those directives… Read more › aims to use its Future Strategy Research as an effective way of consolidating resources.As part of this, it has defined key “future fields”, which include:

• developing modern technologies for competitive and climate-neutral industry,
• creating a sustainable agricultural and food production system,
• strengthening technological sovereignty and
• developing a modern and resilient healthcare system that makes use of the opportunities from biotech and medical processes.

The development of the first mRNA Covid-19 vaccine is considered a paradigm of successful state funding. The vaccine was developed by the Mainz-based firm BioNTech, whose founders, Özlem Türeci and Uğur Şahin, also teach at the University of Mainz. The state provided substantial support for vaccine development at BioNTech and other centres.

German higher education and research institutions place great importance on maintaining an international outlook. Following the “Bologna process” of European higher education reform, the majority of university courses in Germany have been restructured as bachelor's and master’s degrees, which have become the international standard. Many courses, particularly at master’s level, are offered in a foreign language, primarily in English.

For many years Germany has been considered the most popular non-English-speaking country for international students. Around one in ten of Germany’s approximately three million students come from abroad. Unlike many other countries, students pay no or only very limited fees to study at public higher education institutions in Germany (with the exception of certain states such as Baden-Wurttemberg Baden-Wurttemberg People in Baden-Wurttemberg are not keen to talk in superlatives, even though the state continually sets records. The region around Stuttgart, Karlsruhe and Tübingen is one of those in the EU where the most research is conducted. Baden-Wurttemberg is the German leader for patent registrations in… Read more › ). Germany’s higher education and research institutions are also very attractive for international staff. For ex­ample, around 30% of scientists at the four major non-university research institutes come from abroad.

Networking with international partners is also very important to German higher education institutions, which are continually expanding their partnerships around the world. Germany’s support for its higher education institutions includes the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation was founded in 1860 and today promotes academic collaboration between excellent foreign and German researchers. Every year it enables 2,000 international researchers to spend time working in Germany and maintains a worldwide network of some 30,000 Humboldtians… Read more › , which are funded by the Federal Foreign Office. Scholarship programmes are an essential element of Germany's foreign academic and higher education policy. These provide assistance to foreign students, academics and researchers for stays in Germany. Germany also funds higher education partnerships around the world. Over 37,000 agreements exist between higher education institutions in Germany and partners in over 150 countries.