Saxony is promoting itself as a suitable place to study. When the state universities across the state open their doors on Thursday, this is not only aimed at young people from the Free State: according to statistics, a considerable proportion of students have acquired the entitlement to study at a university in another federal state - around 38,000 women and men, which corresponds to 39 percent. A good 40,000 come from Saxony (42 percent), 18,000 from abroad (18 percent).
A good 100,000 students at state universities
The Saxon university landscape has become even larger since last year. This is because the Duale Hochschule emerged from the former Berufsakademie. As a result, the number of students at state institutions in the Free State has reached the 100,000 mark. In addition to these universities, there are ten more run by churches and private institutions as well as two state administrative universities. Most of the students from other federal states come from Thuringia (six percent), Saxony-Anhalt and Bavaria (five percent each) and Brandenburg (four percent).
165 subjects on offer
Official higher education statistics show that a total of 165 subjects were offered in Saxony in the winter semester 2024/2025. Universities of the arts traditionally have the highest proportion of foreign students - a good 30 percent on average - followed by universities (19 percent) and universities of applied sciences (16 percent). At the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg, the proportion of foreign students is even higher than 50 percent. At the Dresden University of Music, the figure is 38 percent and at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig it is one third.
