In total, there were 367,578 international students at German universities in the winter 2022/23 academic semester, as detailed by DAAD in the latest Wissenschaft weltoffen report, a 5.2 per cent increase compared with 349,438 in the winter semester of 2021/22.

Source markets: A large factor in the growth was India, which increased by 26 per cent year-on-year to become the top source country with 42,578 students – surpassing China (39,137 students), which had been the largest supplier of international students to Germany for the previous 20 years.

Across the last five years, India has increased by 146 per cent – the largest growth rate of all of the top 15 source markets in that time – while China has been stagnant at only six per cent growth in that time.

In 2022/23, the third largest source country was Syria (15,563 students), followed by Austria (14,762) and Turkey (14,732).

Background: Despite the free tuition model, Germany has accounted for between three and seven per cent of higher education bookings for agents in StudyTravel Magazine’s annual Global Agency Surveys, with agents often using a counselling fee model rather than commission from partner clients.

President of DAAD, Professor Dr. Joybrato Mukherjee said, “German universities and research institutions continue to enjoy great international popularity. In particular, the high quality of academic education, the freedom from fees and the good career opportunities for university graduates on the German labour market have supported the Federal Republic's rise to the top three most popular countries to study. German universities are demonstrably extremely attractive for international students and doctoral candidates, and this is an enormous lever for countering the dramatic shortage of skilled workers.”