Germany Tops in European Countries for International Students Above UK and France

In the newly published European ranking list, Germany ranks at the top for attracting international students followed by UK and France, as last year Germany also took the top position in Europe. Thirty European countries were ranked based on scores in three dimensions: Education, Cost, and Life & Career. Germany achieved high ranks across the board, offering high-quality teaching at many well-ranked universities.

Education:   About the education of Germany, CEO of Study.EU Gerrit Blöss said The Local that the country has a large number of higher education institutions which are ranked well in international rankings. Blöss mentioned that while the UK still comes on top in typical university rankings, German higher education schools received much better teaching scores than their UK rivals. As well as German universities offer excellent teaching and research and availability of courses in English. Germany offers education at very low fee compared to other European countries. Germany beat the UK in ranking due to high sky-rocketing tuition fees.

Low Cost of Living:  The cost of living is quite cheap and affordable compared to other European countries. The prices for food, accommodation, clothing, cultural events, etc are reasonable. Students require around 850 euros per month to cover the cost of living in Germany. Meanwhile, in the costs category, the UK came in the last place due to its “prohibitively high cost of living and tuition fees.”

Life and Career: The final ranking category looked at international graduates’ life and career prospects with Germany ranking “really well” according to Blöss. However, he acknowledged there is “always room for improvement.” Graduates are allowed to remain in the country for up to 18 months on a “residence permit” after completing their studies – far longer than the UK where students from outside the EU are usually unable to stay for longer than a few short months. An ideal situation for the integration of foreign students into the German workplace, according to Blöss, would be if institutions offered sufficient programmes in English and if graduates were able to speak the local language