Every year lakhs of Indian students go abroad to pursue higher education. With increased family incomes, this number has been at a steady rise over the past few years now. While USA and UK continue to be a fan favourite, more and more Indian students are choosing Germany as their study abroad destination. It is a testament to this trend that the number of Indian students in German Universities has risen by 20 percent in thus year.
As per the official report Wissenschaft weltoffen 2025, released by DAAD and German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZWH), the total number of Indian students this year was 59,000. This was not only the largest cohort of international students in the country but also 20 percent higher than previous year.
In a larger picture, Germany continues to gain popularity as a Study Abroad destination for international students from across the globe.
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The report states that overall international students’ recruitments in various universities have seen a marked jump. As many as 116,000 first year student enrolments were reported for 2025 as against 88,000 last year. Overall, the number rose to nearly 405,000 in 2024-25 from 380,000 in 2023-24.
Leading the growth are students from Asia Pacific which contribute to 33 pc of the international students, followed by North Africa and Middle East (19%) and Western Europe (15%).
With more and more public universities in Germany offering courses in English, the trend has been rising steadily. Among the top choices are engineering courses (43%), or economics and social sciences (25%).
Germany the preferred study abroad destination for Indian students
Germany has been seeking an increased interest from Indian students planning to pursue quality education. The no tuition at the public universities have helped the case, pushing the student enrolment steadily up since 2010.
This increase is despite recent visa delays due to introduction of the APS (Akademische Prüfstelle) process, which is a certification process to verify students’ academic credentials. The process was introduced in October 2022.
However, over the past three years, the number of students has been rising. Industry experts have pointed out that this is also due to a marked shift in recent years from the more famous study abroad destinations of USA and UK.
The shift is also supported by an increased interest of German Universities in Indian students. Many universities are now offering multiple courses in English language. To this, there are now India student associations which are helping interested students with various services, along with pre-departure sessions and facilitating accommodation.
Furthermore, more than 80 universities from Germany visited India in 2025 alone. The universities have steadily reached out to Indian institutes to strengthen the academic and research partnerships.
Today, Germany is offering about 2400 English language programs. Of these, 420 are for bachelor’s while 1930 are for master’s degree. The application process for October 2026 intake will now begin from May 2026 for German Universities. As for the April 2026 intake, the applications are now open and will close around January 15.