Anyone who wants to start a course of study in the winter has a good chance of finding a place. A numerus clausus now applies to only 38 percent of offers.
Nationwide, the number of courses with an admission restriction continues to decline.
In the coming winter semester, 37.9 percent of the subjects have a numerus clausus (NC). A year ago it was 39.7 percent and ten years ago 45.5 percent, as the Center for Higher Education Development (CHE) announced on Tuesday in its NC check. Reason is the rising number of study offers in the past years, while there are at the same time fewer study beginners.
Thus prospective students have good chances altogether on a study place of their choice. However, a look at the individual German states reveals a clearly different picture: Popular cities such as Hamburg and Berlin or some regions, for example in Baden-Württemberg, have significantly higher hurdles in terms of university admissions.
At 62.8 percent and 61.2 percent, Hamburg and Berlin had the highest NC rates in a comparison of the states. But also in Karlsruhe, Munich, Leipzig and Constance, more than half of the courses offered had an NC.
Differences in the numerus clausus according to type of higher education institution, type of degree and subject
A lower proportion of courses offered at universities (34.5 percent) were still subject to an NC than those offered at universities of applied sciences (38.6 percent). For the first time, bachelor’s degree programs had a slightly lower NC rate (37.7 percent) than master’s degree programs (38.1 percent).
The NC quota also continues to vary greatly from subject to subject: In law, economics, social sciences and social sciences, almost half of the courses offered nationwide are subject to admissions restrictions. In linguistics and cultural studies, on the other hand, three out of four courses are open to all first-year students.
In the case of open-admission programs, all that is required for enrollment is a high school diploma, a bachelor’s degree or other prerequisites such as an internship. If there is an admission restriction with an NC, the university has set a maximum number of students. In this case, an application for a place is necessary. Selection is based on grades, test results or work experience.
The Center for Higher Education Development (CHE) is a joint subsidiary of the Bertelsmann Foundation and the German Rectors’ Conference. The “NC Check” is based on NC data from the Higher Education Compass of the German Rectors’ Conference for just under 22,000 courses of study in the winter semester 2023/24, as well as corresponding data from previous years.
dpa/ckr