Saxony in midfield for medical study places

In terms of the number of medical study places at state universities, Saxony is in the middle of the field compared to other federal states. The universities of Leipzig and Dresden had 620 places for human medicine in the 2024 academic year.

According to a recent evaluation by the Center for Higher Education Development (CHE), there were 15 places per 100,000 inhabitants. Saarland and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania were the frontrunners, with 29 and 26 medical study places per 100,000 inhabitants respectively. In contrast, the federal states of Bremen and Brandenburg did not offer any state-funded medical training at all.

More doctors in regions with medical training

According to the CHE, the figures are significant in view of the shortage of doctors. The analysis shows that regions with a medical faculty have a higher density of doctors. There therefore appears to be a kind of glue effect: Doctors prefer to settle near where they trained.

The statistics divided Saxony into four regions: In Western Saxony with Leipzig and the Upper Elbe Valley/Eastern Ore Mountains around Dresden, there were 232.9 and 237.2 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants respectively in 2024. In the Upper Lusatia-Lower Silesia region, the figure was 190.2 and in South Saxony 194.2.

In the opinion of the CHE, regions without medical training should consider establishing such a faculty. At the same time, there needs to be a social and political discussion about who pays for the training. Studying medicine takes a long time and is expensive.