Total international academic staff and international professors by type of university in 2018 and 2023

The number of international academics at universities in Germany amounted to around 65,500 in 2023.
While a good 15 percent of international academic staff have foreign citizenship, this is only the case for 8 percent of professors. The low proportion of international professors in the overall professorial body to date can be attributed to both specific barriers to appointment and a lower number of international applicants. Professorships at universities of applied sciences (UAS) in particular may be less attractive to international applicants due to a lack of awareness and reputation.
At universities, international academic staff accounted for 15 percent of all academic staff in 2018 and 18 percent in 2023. The corresponding figures for international professors as a proportion of all professors were 9 percent in 2018 and 11 percent in 2023.
At UAS, international academic staff accounted for 5 percent in 2018 and 7 percent in 2023. For international professors, these figures were 3 percent and 3 percent in 2018 and 2023, respectively.
At art and music colleges, 18 percent of academic staff in 2018 and 22 percent in 2023 were foreign nationals. For professors, these figures were 21 percent in 2018 and 23 percent in 2023.