The number of foreign students coming to German universities to study remains is slowly rising again, though it has not yet reached pre-pandemic levels, the Federal Statistical Office said on Wednesday.
Some 32,200 guest students attended courses at German universities in the 2023/24 winter semester, 9% more than in the 2022/2023 winter semester.
However, this was 14% less than in the 2019/2020 winter semester, before the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus that lead to government-imposed lockdowns for safety reasons, bringing travel worldwide virtually to a standstill.
"The current increase in the number of guest students was mainly in the 60+ age group," the statistics office said. That meant the average age rose from 49 to 51 from winter semester 2022/2023 to winter semester 2023/2024.
The proportion of students from abroad fell slightly from 12% to 11% during this period.
The proportion of women remained unchanged at 49%.
In Germany, guest students may join individual university courses without having to have a higher education entrance qualification, though they may not take final examinations.
Of 2.9 million fully-enrolled students in the winter semester 2023/24, guest students make up just over 1%.
Among foregin and guests students studying a specific subject, the most popular were history, philosophy, computer science and economics.