“Private institutions try to become the ‘first second-choice’ for international students”

You recently lectured in Germany and neighbouring countries about how your 2024 book A World of Private Higher Education can help us understand our own current surge of private higher education. So, how should we understand recent developments in German higher education in a broader European and global context, particularly with regard to the relationship between privatisation and internationalisation?

Germany stands out vividly on two dimensions: internationalisation and privatisation, and privatisation is especially striking in German historical perspective.

Let’s start with internationalisation. Germany has been one of the fastest-growing destinations for international students, reaching more than 400,000 by 2025 – about a quarter of all such students in the EU. France follows closely, though both still trail the UK. Countries like Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands are also experiencing this Western European surge that offsets international trends in the US and Canada. To put this shift in perspective: in 2000, only 2–3% of EU students were international; today, it’s 8%.

Turning now to privatisation: This is likewise a regional shift. Up until the turn of the millennium, Europe was predominantly public in higher education – publicly owned, funded, and provided. Around 2000, only 11% of European students were at private institutions when the global share had risen to 28%, and Germany’s figure was under 2%. By 2025, however, Germany’s private sector enrolment had soared to over 13%, with similar growth across Western Europe. Interestingly, while private enrolment shares have recently fallen to 9% in Eastern Europe, they have risen to around 21% in Western Europe overall. Both regions had similar levels of private enrolment of 12% in 2000.

So, while one could simply say ‘as Germany goes, so goes Western Europe,’ the reality is better understood as ‘as Western Europe goes, so goes Germany.’ The significant changes we see in Germany—whether in internationalisation or privatisation—mirror larger regional trends. Germany’s developments are best viewed within this broader European context.

So we’re dealing with two big regional tendencies. But are they actually connected, or do they operate independently?

Let me clarify how these two major trends—privatisation and internationalisation—relate to each other. Simply put, the big rise in private higher education in Germany and Western Europe isn’t mainly caused by international students.

Private universities in Germany have experienced a strong rise in international enrolment, with the share of international students more than doubling over the past decade—from around 5% to 12%. But if you look at the bigger picture, international students are only a small part of the rapid growth in the private sector. The rapid growth of private enrolment in Germany has been overwhelmingly driven by domestic students. Although the share of international students at private universities has risen very sharply in recent years, this alone does not explain the even sharper increase in the share of private universities out of the total student population in Germany over the same period.

The reasons students choose private universities are much the same, whether the students come from Germany itself or abroad. Both groups are attracted by commercial factors: private universities often offer courses and teaching methods that fit closely with jobs in the labour market—particularly in subjects like business administration and management. This practical focus makes them appealing for many.

If private universities are often criticized for lacking the academic nature of public universities, this can actually be an advantage for some international and domestic students alike. Private universities provide more flexible schedules for working or part-time students, and the top institutions can offer more modern facilities, smaller classes, and more individual attention. Importantly, private universities often teach in English. This helps attract international students who may not speak German fluently, and this also appeals to many domestic students as well.

Of course, studying at a German private university comes at a price – students can pay from 5,000 to 30,000 euros a year – while studying at public universities is generally free. Public universities also still have a strong reputation based on their long history. But the point is: the success of German private universities is not mainly about attracting international students. Their main growth comes from within the country.

You have explained that the German privatisation doesn’t rest on internationalisation, but how important are private universities in shaping international student enrolment in Germany?

Indeed, Germany’s internationalisation is growing in both the public and private university sectors—but the public sector still remains much larger, so privatisation is only one part of internationalisation.

It’s true that private universities have seen a big rise in international students. But actually, public universities have also increased their international student numbers, and they still have a higher share — over 14% of their students come from abroad, compared to 12% at private universities.

This is not to diminish the significance of the private sector’s rise. But much of their growth comes from choices made by public universities. Public institutions often set stricter admissions rules, including the so-called numerus clausus, i.e. closed student numbers, limiting how many students they accept. By contrast, private universities have more flexible entry requirements. Consequently, some international students who can’t get into public universities then choose private ones. Private institutions try to become the “first second-choice” for international students who still want to study in Germany, just as they often are for domestic students.

So, when we talk about why international students choose private universities over public ones, opinions tend to differ. Some people see private universities as more flexible and agile, while public universities are seen as slow and bureaucratic. Others argue that this strictness in public universities helps maintain academic standards, whereas private universities may put too much focus on commercial interests.

Likewise, international students often choose different subjects depending on whether they study at private or public universities. At public universities they usually study STEM subjects, most often at Master of Science level. Private universities mainly attract students to MBA and Master of Arts programmes. The mix of nationalities is also different: Students from India and Turkey make up the biggest percentage for both, but public universities have more students from China, Austria, and Iran, while private universities see more students from Pakistan, Western Europe, and North Africa, and a higher share of non-EU students overall.

Some private universities, like Constructor University, aim for elite, international status. But for most international students, private universities play a key role as market-oriented institutions—just as they do for German students.

To sum up: The rise in both internationalisation and privatisation in Germany is real and quite remarkable from a historical perspective. But neither trend completely explains the other, and both are part of bigger patterns we also see in Western Europe.