German doctoral students at universities in key host countries in 2023

There is currently no harmonised data source that provides information on the total number of German doctoral students abroad. In order to analyse German doctoral students in various host countries, data from the OECD, the German Federal Statistical Office, the US “Student and Exchange Visitor Information System” and Universiteiten van Nederland have therefore been collated.

For the 2023 academic year, the data sources described above identified 14,008 German doctoral students at universities abroad. Most of them, 23%, were pursuing their doctorates in Switzerland, followed by Austria (18%), the United Kingdom (12%), the US (just under 9%), the Netherlands (6%), Sweden and France (4% each), and Denmark, Spain and Australia (3% each).